Self Talk

After sharing with Chan Luu the work we are doing to create our GPS for the Soul app and go-to-guide for getting back on course when stress overtakes us, I asked her to share how she manages to keep herself in balance.

This week, I want to examine an apparently-small pebble that is actually the biggest rock you have in your rock pile -- the energy you have with which to live your life.

Living in a world of always connected but never connected has become an epidemic form of reality out there. Anxiety and stress seem to be rising everywhere, and yet most people are responding as though there's no choice.

Just as a GPS system in a car helps recalculate your route, GPS for the Soul will help you notice when you've gone off-course. And it will provide instant, on-demand feedback to help you course-correct.

I understand challenges and obstacles are lessons, and difficult people are gifts in that they teach me patience and boundaries. I know times of doubt ask for clarification before moving forward.

The problem with the spiritual path is that there is no path to spirit because there is nowhere to go. You're already there but may not have yet awakened to that fact.

The difference between Mega Millions and every day fool's bets is that someone actually does win the lottery. Fools bet regularly and never win at all in the game of life.

Who you truly are is alive and well deep within your heart. All you need to do is listen past the noise of the world, past the noise of your own self-critical mind. If you do, you will notice the quiet voice of your soul encouraging you to step into a brighter reality.

By choosing to make even one microscopic change today, and another tomorrow, it won't be long until you notice that those minor improvements have actually begun to add up.

Do you ever find yourself getting just a little irritated with people who can be so darned self-righteous? You know the people I mean -- the ones who are so far beyond being right that there's just no room for anyone else to even have a thought on the subject?

True courage takes many forms, few of them characterized by bravado and none of them insensitive or unkind. That doesn't mean true courage can't appear to be insensitive or unkind

Surely you have had someone give you a half-hearted apology that left you feeling cold inside. In fact, haven't you been the one giving that "I'm-kind-of-sort-of-sorry" apology yourself?

But how do you move from resentment, upset and blame into acceptance, understanding and true forgiveness? The answer lies in forgiving yourself. Not forgiving yourself for an action, thought, word or deed aimed at another, but forgiving yourself for having judged yourself in the first place.

Are you slowly dying in your own self-made poisonous rut of upset and resentment and calling it life instead? Are you drinking the poison of continuous upset hoping the other person will change?

How much upset have you experienced in your life so far? How much more upset would you like to endure going forward? Bizarre questions, perhaps, and yet if you are willing to dig into them a bit, you might be able to dig out from under all that hurt and upset in your life.

Taking that first step is what allows the miracle to kick in -- the more steps you take, the closer you get to your impossible good coming true. And the closer you get, the more choices you are likely to discover.

How can you discover opportunity or an unseen blessing when life presents you with what may seem like an unwelcome event?

The absence of peace can be experienced in any number of ways ranging from stress, anxiety and disturbance to upset, anger and hostility. Sure, there are all kinds of disruptive events in life, and yet some manage to walk through the disturbances relatively unperturbed, while others are much more agitated.

No matter what befalls you, you still have choices about how you respond. As you choose your response, you create your experience.

The choice is always yours -- you can keep listening to the Self-Talk cautioning you against pursuing what matters most or you can listen to your Soul-Talk reminding that you already possess that which you seek.

If you have a natural bent toward criticism, your favorite target is most likely your own self! If you are your own worst critic, then what you dish out to the rest of us probably doesn't even register as criticism.

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