Welcome to fundamental 2 of 10 that I’m excited to share with you as we all journey through our own experiences and lives. This fundamental is RELAX!!! Sounds good, doesn’t it?!
Relax, relax, and then relax some more! Bring peace to your mind and body, especially in this fast-paced, action-packed, stress-filled world. We tend to get ourselves so overwhelmed with everyday pressures, worries and doubts that we forget about ‘good ole me.’ Do your best to take a few minutes for yourself each day to simply relax your mind and body. As mentioned with Fundamental #1, this is about finding your center and going within; getting back in tune with your true, divine high self. Relaxing your mind and body is obviously crucial for your health and well-being in your day-to-day living, but it is also especially important as you’re first trying to open the doors to a more fulfilled life.
Let me start off with a few ideas to get yourself relaxed (keeping in mind that there are endless ways in which to do this). Some of the most popular relaxation methods include deep breathing, prayer, walking, listening to melodic (or any kind of) music, meditation, yoga–or all of the above. You will determine which method works the best for you in your life. One of the most important actions you can do easily (without a lot of effort) is to breathe deeply and often. Big deep, cleansing breaths allow the oxygen to move throughout your body which is an essential part of relaxing. You will determine which method(s) you like the best and which help you to relax the most. For those of you like me, who seem to go from one activity to another, I find quick relaxation throughout the day by taking at least 3 deep, cleansing breaths. It’s fast and remarkably effective. And, when I follow these cleansing breaths up with prayer, all the better!
Now that I’ve covered the most obvious ways to relax your mind and body, I’d like to focus on an area where we have all found ourselves at some point or another in life. And that is, the worry, doubt and fear never-ending train. I know you’ve been on this train before and in fact I’m thinking most of us are on it right now in some area of our lives. Seems to me that we spend most of our time riding on this dark, ugly train that gets us no where but further into worries and fears. I don’t know about you, but I’d like to get off at the next stop so I can hop in my own vehicle and drive myself to the place of unconditional love, compassion, and a life filled with balance at all levels. Sound good to you? Yes? Well then hop off with me, and I’ll be sure to walk you to your vehicle to relaxation!
Now before you can hop off at the next stop, you first need to understand how to keep yourself from driving to another stop and getting back on the worry / fear train. So I have a few questions for you as we work our way through an example that hopefully hits home with you.
Do you find yourself so caught up in worry that you aren’t even sure how to think positive any longer? Do you worry about everything and anything? What people think of you? How people will react to what you say or do? Or do you spend most of your time worrying about others? Will the kids be okay if they go on a trip today with their friends? Will your spouse or significant other be able to handle the load while you are away for work? Maybe you spend your time worrying about someone getting hurt simply by just playing or stepping outside? Do you worry about money so much that your daily focus is on how you are going to pay your bills? There are so many ways in which we all worry — there isn’t enough room or time to cover them all. But I ask you to pay attention to your thoughts and to your reactions to others and determine how much worry or fear is a major factor in your daily life. I’m quite sure it’s running the show (or shall we say driving the train!).
What I’d like for everyone to do is to “relax”! STOP the madness of worry, fears and doubts. This is craziness and we are becoming our own worst enemy! Believe me, I know this just as you do. Relax and work with yourself to change your thought process. The best thing you can do for yourself is to cross off the crazy fear-based, worrisome thoughts that come in to your mind and to replace these with what it is that you do “want to happen.” Here’s an example of what I mean. My sister comes over to my house and immediately freaks out when my boys (ages 3 and 4) move. Yes, simply move – the moment they move she is in constant panic and fear because she’s so worried about them getting hurt. I could easily go there as well, but if I do I might as well hang it up since they are boys and boys will be boys! So for this example, instead of worrying about the boys when they start jumping up and down, she should cross off that thought and say to herself “the boys are healthy, they are having fun, angels protect. thank you so much for making it so.” And then let it go. That’s a quick and very short example, but we want to make it easy for ourselves. We want to get right to the point of what it is that we “want”, NOT what we don’t want. We spend too much of our time in life focused on what it is that we don’t want. (“Dear God, please don’t let it rain today because we are having a party outside.” How about this instead: “Dear God, please let the sun shine all day for our party! Thank you!”) It’s a bit subtle, but extremely powerful. Pay attention to what you are focused on and what you are sending out to the universe. Make it a habit and a constant practice to pay attention to what rolls off your tongue because whatever is sent out, is what the universe responds to. Let me tell you, it takes so much more effort to think negatively, than it does to think positively. So be sure to RELAX, take a few big deep cleansing breaths, and pay attention to what’s going on in that beautiful head of yours. I’ll guarantee you that most thoughts are focused on worry, fears or doubts (in other words, what you don’t want). So change it up!! You have the power and the choice and it will indeed make a difference in your life!
One last thought, when you do change your thought process on what it is that you desire, please send it out to the universe, let it go and have faith that it is indeed the outcome. This is certainly just as important. If you don’t believe what you send out, it won’t come true either. Have faith and believe in what you say. I’ve spent a great deal of time retraining myself to realize the negative-type thoughts (most of them) and crossing them off to be more positive has become very natural for me at this point. I absolutely believe and have faith in what it is that I send out. I wish the same for you! Oh and for that occassional (or more frequent) moment when the worrisome thought pops back into your mind, simply cross it off by repeating what it is that you do want the outcome to be. Do this over and over and over again until it becomes a natural part of your thinking. Believe me — it works, 100% guarantee! How about that for motivation! :) But it does take time. In the beginning it was quite an effort for me; now I don’t have to work so hard on it. It takes practice, patience and faith. I now actually hear myself saying something in a negative way and I immediately cross it off (either out loud or to myself quietly) with the positive way to state things. Also, when I state what I want I always say ‘thank you’ and I send it off with the utmost of faith knowng and believing deep in my heart that it is indeed truth. I never think about it again. It’s about letting go of the control, the worries, the doubts and also having faith in yourself and the process. Re-training yourself and your mind takes some getting used to. After all, you’ve been thinking this way for all of your (adult) life — just like I was. It’s a work-in-progress, but certainly worth the effort.
And now with all of that said, there are times when we want to bitch or complain or vent — this is all fine and good — you have to let out what you need to let out. Once you let it out, be sure to cross off whatever the bitching may have been (since it’s typically on the negative side of what you ‘don’t’ want) and be sure to state what you do want. It’s the last thing that rolls off your tongue or out of your mind that the universe receives. Energy is put behind that last thing, so make sure it’s what you “want” to happen.
Do the best you can to find a way to change your thought process to a more positive spin. This, in and of itself, will provide you tremendous relaxation since you won’t be carrying the load of worries, fears and doubts. So hop off that darn train and drive yourself where you want to go. You got the power, the choice, the strength! Change it up!! WOOHOO!!!
*** Don’t forget to check out my new book (on Amazon.com or in bookstores everywhere!) Closer Than You Think — The Easy Guide to Connecting with Loved Ones on the Other Side. You’ll find all the details you’ll want to know about the book on my website, including the book trailer just posted by my publisher. You can view a sneak peek on my website or on Amazon as well. ***
