Right Action

When it is obvious that the goals cannot be reached, don't adjust the goals, adjust the action steps.

Confucius, 551-479 BC

There are times when it seems that work as we may to achieve a goal that we cannot get pasts certain barriers. It is hard to tell what creates these barriers. Sometimes we create our own barriers. Other times it is just circumstances and the flow of events.

When we come to an impasse one is often ready to give up and just say I can't do it. Then it the time to look and see if it is external or internal circumstances that are stopping one from achieving one's objective.

I used to be a salesperson and I worked with this fellow named Joe. Well Joe was a chipper chap and he liked to chat. In fact, one of the reasons that clients liked him so much was because he was so affable and eager to please. However, I noticed everytime I went with Joe to a presentation he would talk himself out of a sale only to have to make the sale again. He had no idea of when to just shut up when the customer said yes. Is it possible that the universe is saying yes, but you keep talking yourself into a no answer? Do you keep coming back to the divine spirit and asking over and over again for the same thing. Giving mixed signals to the universe or to people can keep one from obtaining one's goal. Giving mixed signals to you really cements that you will get a NO answer.

Sometimes we don't get what we desire as a focus of our goals because we don't ask. If you are working for some one or a company and you need more money, have you asked for a raise? If you have credit card debt, have you called your credit card companies to lower your interest? If you want someone to remember your birthday, have you asked them to remember? If you are afraid to ask for what you want, the chances are small that you are going to receive it.

If you are listening for yes but getting no's, usually it means that you haven't given a person a reason that they think is valid to say yes. This means that you must clarify what is important to the person that you need to help you. If it is a boss who refuses a raise, ask what it would take to get a raise and then do what it takes. If it is a lover who does not respond, ask what he or she needs to feel more comfortable. If your children are not behaving in ways that enhance their lives and yours, ask why and how you can help them achieve better habits. Always remember NO only means you haven't found out what will make someone say yes.

Are you focused on your intent. Sometimes we do not really know what we want to achieve. It is then that one has to look at the hows, whys and whats that are inside one and directing one's behavior on a subconscious level. If you are asking the universe for money and you don't think that you deserve money, your true intent is not to receive money. If you are asking the universe to deliver your soul mate, yet you are afraid of love than your unconscious intent is not to find love but to dream about love. Discover your real intent. Focus on it clearly every morning for just a few minutes and then let it go and allow it to blossom.

Do you listen to your inner voice? Do you after the fact sort of figuratively slap your head and say: "I should have known better!" when something doesn't go in a positive manner. Usually our inner voice will warn us not to take a wrong action when the time is wrong or the circumstances are wrong. And, our inner voice will give us a go ahead when we are taking right action. If your inner voice is giving you the wrong signals, it is time to do some searching to see what inner boundaries you have set up to keep you from reaching your goals.

While it is said anything the mind can conceive it can achieve, unless you have inner and outer harmony this is not always easy. However, with analysis and desire all things are possible. Expand your dream possibilities and your life will find a greater state of contentment.

Imagine the Possibilities: http://manifestreality.com/possibilities

How Does the Spiritual Person Handle Betrayal

When one chooses to walk upon the spiritual path, one often assumes that all people in the so-called spiritual community are going to act ethically and morally. It can come as a rude awakening when someone we respect as an expression of the divine acts in ways that are hurtful, deceptive or, at the least, thoughtless.

When one has to wander out of the spiritual community into the mundane world, there are also tendencies for a spiritual individual to have a higher trust level which can often leave one more vulnerable. In a world where others may not adhere to the tenets that we choose to abide by, we sometimes are at greater risk to be taken advantage of or be hurt more easily.

How will we act in situations of betrayal or hurtful issues? We will act normally. We will feel violated, used, hurt, saddened, angry and so forth. Just because one is traveling a spiritual path, it does not mean that one does not have these natural reactions to something that is hurtful. Sometimes when we feel angry we will castigate ourselves because we are not being as “good” as we think we should. Even before we can get to the state of forgiving those who have wronged us, we need too first forgive ourselves for being normal or perhaps for not acting as spiritually as we expect of ourselves.

Guilt will not help in any situation when one is seeking to live a spiritual life. While many of us have been brought up in religious communities that promote the use of guilt and fear to maintain the status quo, a truly spiritual person will use negative events or thoughts to prompt positive growth and to evolve on the spiral of spiritual expression. A really wonderful teacher (and I am sorry I cannot remember exactly which one because I have had so many) said to me: “To turn a negative event into a positive expression ask this question: What good can come from this?”

So the first step in forgiving self and forgiving others is to look at an issue from many different sides. Try to get into the mind of the person(s) who perpetuated this issue and ask yourself: What prompted this person to act this way? What was their motivation and how did they see themselves receiving something that they needed by their actions? If you have trouble seeing the possibilities, discuss it with a confidant that you trust to hold your discussions confidentially. Look for feedback that is honest and not just someone telling you what you want to hear. The most important thing that you need to discover in the healing process of forgiveness is to learn intent. If the individual purposely tried to do what you consider wrong and you know they knew it was wrong or illegal, that is one issue. If they thought that what they were doing were not wrong and they were not trying purposely to hurt you, this is a totally different issue. Just a special note of warning, usually a person that you know has shown you patterns of small hurts or negative behaviors, so you need to know if you were setting you up for the big one.

Also, reflect upon your response and dig deep to find what buttons were being pushed by the event or issue that has caused you pain. You might find that why you were hurt was because you were to learn a lesson, and I think in all strongly emotional events both positive and negative this is a constant factor. Remember, the spiritual individual will grow stronger by learning to think clearly and learn from the events over a lifetime. For me, choosing to allow myself to be vulnerable requires that I develop a greater sense of detachment and observation of my reactions to the world around me. Meditation is probably one’s most positive tool in seeking enlightenment. In fact, I think that one of the reasons that I might get angry with myself when I act with normal emotions is that it indicates to me that I have lost my spiritual detachment.

When you have worked your way around how you feel and the whys and so forth of a hurtful event, you are ready to begin the healing process. Sometimes you may think you have it clearly figured out, only to have something deeper pop up from your unconscious or the cosmic mind. Be gentle with YOU! And, be gentle with the other person.

Some people and counselors will suggest that one needs to confront the person who creates pain for self, but I do not necessarily think that is true. I think that we can do it on a spiritual or psychic level and have the same healing effect. Confrontation is usually just a vehicle to perpetuate more angry or hurtful behaviors. The person that you confront is not going to think he or she did anything wrong or if he or she does, it will be normal to become defensive. It will work just as well for you to write out a letter stating what happened, how it made you feel, and that you now release the negativity and transmute it to good. Then burn the letter and release it to the universal mind. You can use this technique to heal old hurts where the person is no longer available or who might have passed over. If this does not work at first, you can do it again and before you burn the letter you can visualize that you are severing the psychic cords or energy threads that have kept you connected to this toxic individual.

In forgiving yourself and in healing yourself, you can use visualization where you feel all of your energy returning to balance. Start at the top of your head and imagine wonderful healing energy entering the top of your head – like from the divine source. Let this energy slowly move through your body feeling it heal and empower you. Then imagine that it is going out through the soles of your feet into the ground and then through the center of the earth and then coming out the other side of the earth and creating a circle from whence it began from the universe. In this visualization you are creating a pure energy link that constantly replenishes from the infinite divine.

All of us will have times of positive and negative events and issues through our lives. However, the sooner we learn to take responsibility for how we respond to events and turn them into positive use of energy, the less we will suffer and the more we will experience times of contentment and joy. And along the way one never knows when what appears to be such a bad experience becomes the event that opens the door to manifest blessings.
Myriam Maytorena, M Ed is a counselor and writer. Her last book Spirituality: True Odysseys at Barnes and Nobel.

I want what I want

Remember that not getting what you want is sometimes awonderful stroke of luck. -

The Dalai Lama

Someone post recently what is a current thought in Manifesting that to want something means that one is affirming a lack. I used to subscribe to that concept but I have changed my mind. (Remember, a mind that is never changed gets very dirty -- SiStar Glenna)

As we expand our possibilities it is good to look at words and labels of our native languages. One thing that really helps is to study another language because it stretches the way that we perceive words from different vantage points. Another that really helps is to have friends from different cultures, social strata, and sexes. It is good for men who want to grow to listen to women and women who want to grow to listen to men. Every person we meet if we listen gives us an opportunity to explore the meanings -- both hidden and epistemologic - our understanding begins when we observe our reaction to words and explore how and why. Every lyric to a song can become a point of understanding and realizing a moment of epiphany. To see the light, sometimes you have to open up your mind where it is darkest and let those thoughts be exposed to the sun of a new way of looking.

Want does mean to lack something - but to lack something does not necessarily mean we cannot have it. Because to want is also to desire. Desire drives passion and thus based upon how you define your word is your reality manifest. I love the passion of the song with the words: I want you. I need you. (Meatloaf 2 out 3 ain't bad) it is driven with passion. To want something so much that it lights up one's spirit and motivates one to take action is wonderful.

To not want is to be dead. We want food. We want love. We want to be the best that we can. We will never be totally filled because as human beings we need drive. We gotta want or we will just sit down beside the path and wait till the end. Which is all right if you don't want to change the world one person at a time starting with you.

Today take the time to look at the words you use - what memories, ideas, thoughts, and behaviors are connected with these words.

I want to love you - will you let me
I want you to love me - will I let you
I will to have what I want
and that is to love me and to love you



Morning MuseMyriam Maytorenahttp://myriamsmuse.blogspot.com/moments in the morning with my friendsplease feel free to share with your friends.
to receive the daily morning muse just send me an email at myriammaytorena@adelphia.net and ask to be added. Some humor. Some insight. Some silliness. Some very bad music at times.