4 Ways To Start Your New Year

Let’s try to talk about New Year’s Resolutions once more.  Actually, let’s not.  Commitments, obligations, and resolutions just ain’t my thing.  Something about the three breed my tendency to over-think.  Over-strategize.  Get stuck in achieving a goal that needs a relaxed and elastic approach.  So I prefer keeping things simple.  Really, you have to sometimes.  Simplicity opens you up to many possibilities for generating the changes you seek.  And with only so many psychological burdens to get in the way when you decide to let go of the "wheel."  Or one could hope, anyway.

Personally, I think I stand in a prayer for evolving answers for each year–which a general direction in mind.  So any resolutions surround walking the new year in faith.  Coupled with taking action on inspired thoughts along the way.  And by inspired thoughts I mean those moments when an exciting idea hits you.  When the Universe/God is calling you to take some kind of action.  Some kind of execution of an idea you trust will keep you on your blossoming path.  Even the smallest of daily actions lead to big changes.  You just have to execute and let the Universe/God do the rest of the work with the space you’ve provided.  Yet, it’s important not to find ourselves stuck in the end-goal.  But still uphold the necessity of perseverance.

And that’s why I wanted to write a post on some positive ideas and tools you can use to help usher in your New Year.  It’s not necessarily a list.  It’s not necessarily an action plan.  Just… some ideas.

It's Okay to Self-Help

Don't be afraid to get to know yourself through self-help and personal transformation books.  I’ve found they can do a world of wonder for a discouraged or troubled spirit who needs a little reassurance and self-actualization.  Believe me on this.  There are moments when I open up A Course in Miracles for a quick passage, and immediately find relief in its lucidity.  Over the years, I've found many inner and outer conflicts come into perspective instantaneously through this book.  So I keep it next to my bed like some sort of cognitive-steering emergency pill.

And that's why it irritates me when people sort of disdain or rebut the validity of self-help books.  Or activate the ever present stigma how these books are “useless” or “for the pathetic soul.”  Okay, okay.  That was a bit of an exaggeration.  Nonetheless, my immediate thought for the naysayers is they just haven't found the right book for themselves yet.  Either that or lack the patience to explore any given book's methods for creating positive life changes.

Taking the time to work on yourself gives you permission to be who you long to be in this world.  The time you take to look inside to find what does and doesn't work for your life is truly a gift to yourself.  Especially when you go through life carrying baggage (we all do) or a past you can’t let go of.  We live with so many thoughts, pains, and misconceptions generated from within and through forces outside.  Why not find some relief from them?  

I’ve gotten tons of perspectives and personal realizations by traveling through various self-help books.  It's a journey that will take all my life–and yours.  Learning and working on yourself takes work after all.  Work that’s worth it through each step, but never ends.

The six books in the image are ones I revisit (besides my favorite Louise Hay books) off and on over the years.  Nathaniel Branden’s Honoring the Self speaks about how self-esteem plays with our behavior and character.  Furthermore, how the two elements come about in our decision-making.  Wayne Dyer’s The Shift is about leaving the demands of the ego aside to reach our ambitions.  Something extremely difficult to do in world where everyone wants to feel present and accounted for.  Write It Down, Make It Happen by Henriette Anne Klauser needs more attention from me these days.  As the title suggests, writing your aspirations is the first step to achieving them.  And she’ll show you how.  The Untethered Soul by Michael A. Singer has been on my bedside for years.  I love the book because it’s about releasing limiting thoughts and inner aggravations.  Julia Cameron’s Walking in This World speaks about accessing creativity and, in turn, our life purpose.

I would throw a couple of Tony Robbins and Dale Carnegie in there as well.  Do you have a favorite self-help/transformation book you tote around or sleep next to?  Which is it and why do you love it?

Create a Vision Board

In August of 2011 I was watching The Secret for the umpteenth time when John Assaraf shared his vision board story.  Before I knew it I'd gathered my writing, lifestyle, traveling, and gaming magazines.  It took me no time to clip out images left and right.  Whichever image spoke to my vision, I glued them onto my own vision board then stuck the thing on the back of my door.

Now let’s be real, since then I’ve spent more time flying out the door with a glance at it.  And no, I can’t say anything from it has manifested.  But that’s all right.  It all takes time and, fact is, I’m on the road to each as closely as I write this sentence.  Nonetheless, at the end of the day, it’s a visual tool.  A reminder of two things: what I need and how far I’ve come along since its creation.

So that’s the next idea for the New Year.  Create yourself a vision board.  You don’t have to burden yourself studying it every day with a potato-fist’ed prayer.  Actually, I would suggest not doing that.  But instead put it somewhere out in the open for a simple glance here or there.  Or a minute or two lingering over it before taking an inspired action–which would get you closer to those desires.  Let your board act as a beacon.  A whistle.  A target.  A reset button after a long day in the world outside of your vision.  Or see it as a playground for the Universe/God to play in.  Because you don't always know how your vision will come to pass, only that it's coming and will often be a surprise.

Record Yourself!

Familiar with your computer’s Sound Recorder program?  Well, get familiar with it for a moment.  

My next idea is to suggest recording yourself speaking your desires, aspirations and wishes.  It’s sort of like the audio vision board–if you will.  However, record your message as if your vision has already happened.  I have about two recordings of myself doing such.  I keep them on my computer and cell phone.  I would listen to a recording at least once a day, usually on my way to work at five in the morning.  Before dawn, driving down the highway trying to get my mind prepped for the chaos I know I’ll escape one day.

You don’t need a fancy recording mic or anything.  Speak into your computer’s speakers.  Make one recording short for a burst of inspiration.  Make one long and meditative.  Just remind yourself through yourself of who you are and where you want to take this life you're given.

Record Life With a Journal

My last idea is to lead the New Year with a journal.  And yes, I’m showing a picture of one of my journals from my Zazzle shop.  It’s only right, considering I started blogging because I wanted to start a business selling journals.  Right?  Right?  (^_^)  Anyway, the idea to create journals hit me years ago when I was struggling to find a journal I liked, and would move me to write.  I didn’t want the usual Siamese or Pug journal cover.  Or the roses and wild flowers.  Seascapes and meadows–definitely a no.  So I created my own journals featuring my cast of cute (but crazy) imaginary friends.

I’ll freely admit blogging has gotten in the way of my journaling.  But just a touch.  Yet, hear me when I say it's one in itself.  Nevertheless, I can’t express the importance of journaling as a daily activity.  I’ve been journaling since the second semester of my senior year in high school.  So I have about six or seven notebooks filled with material and stories from my life.  Just imagine that for yourself for a moment.  Books.  Pages.  Filled with your life.  Your story.  Your character.  Your identity.  Your triumphs and mistakes.  All expressed, documented and accessible without conjuring up memories which one day may not be conjurable.

Give yourself life-long access to your journey.  Start 2016 writing your life down. 

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And that, ladies and gentleman, are my ideas for starting off the New Year.  Of course in whatever direction you wish to take the twelve months given.  There’s more out there to share, but four from me will suffice.  If you have any more to add, please place them in the comments section below.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

A Course: Separation, Fear, Conflict

It’s been a while since I've grasped A Course in Miracles.  The truth is that I didn't re-recognize, during some emotionally distressful situations, that I had it available to me.  Nonetheless, through a few recent events, I found myself drawn back to the book.  So as of late I've committed myself to reading a page or two every morning before I get out of bed, to energize my spirit with a concisely positive approach to the day.  Not that I go into each day thinking negatively.  The Course just sets a whole different tone and succinct realization to each morning.  See, I read somewhere that what you think and believe within the first twenty minutes of your day will determine the proceeding twenty-four hours.  I kind of noticed that to be true one morning when I decided to picked up A Course in Miracles to soothe the rumbling in my mind.  Scratch that.  The fear in my mind is more precise.  I’m not a student of the Course, per se.  I don’t believe I have the capability to grasp something as spiritually illustrious.  Nonetheless, I find treasures in simply reading the book and finding that contrast between what I’m going through and what could inspire a positive flip on the situation.  The book is just insightful and penetrative should you take the time to read closely.  Much like Louise Hay’s You Can Heal Your Life, I take on A Course in Miracles to help realign myself to the changes I want to see in myself.  It's like a voice, or an invite to do better.  

So in this post I want to share two passages.  I don't read the book out of order, but somehow I came across these two at the right time.  Talk about how the Universe is in resonance…

These are passages from Chapter 2: The Separation and the Atonement.  Just to be clear, A Course in Miracles is not a religion, despite its use of Christian rhetoric or verbosity.  According to acim.org it's a "self-study spiritual thought system".  So there you have it.

III. The Altar of God

[Pages 40-41]

"You can temporize and you are capable of enormous procrastination, but you cannot depart entirely from your Creator, Who set the limits on your ability to miscreate.  An imprisoned will engenders a situation which, in the the extreme, becomes altogether intolerable.  Tolerance for pain may be high, but it is not without limit.  Eventually everyone begins to recognize, however dimly, that there must be a better way.  As this recognition becomes more firmly established, it becomes a turning-point.  This ultimately reawakens spiritual vision, simultaneously weakening the investment in physical sight.  The alternating investment in the two levels of perception is usually experienced as conflict, which can become very acute.  But the outcome is as certain as God.

"Spiritual vision literally cannot see error, and merely looks for Atonement.  All solutions the physical eye seeks dissolve.  Spiritual vision looks within and recognizes immediately that the altar has been defiled and needs to be repaired and protected.  Perfectly aware of the right defense it passes over all others, looking past error to truth.  Because of the strength of its vision, it brings the mind into this service.  This re-establishes the power of the mind and makes it increasingly unable to tolerate delay, realizing that it only adds unnecessary pain.  As a result, the mind becomes increasingly sensitive to what it would once have regarded as very minor intrusions of discomfort."

I think that those two passages can electrify you without a studied explanation.  Especially for those who struggle with trying to live their purpose/passion, while finding themselves separated from doing so by worldly demands.  I find myself truly aligned with these two passages because I have (and still am to be honest) experiencing that tolerance of pain, having to concern myself with those worldly responsibilities that don't necessarily lift my spirit.  Even as recent as last month where I turned my back on something that I knew would only cause me to go backwards in my journey.  While I didn't handle that situation as best as I could, I couldn't ignore the calling that there had to be a better way out of my current situation that didn't require me to go back into my old situation.  With that said, we have to hold on to our visions with the faith that they propel us into our truths.  In a sense, a vision is a kernel to life.  Without one... I could only imagine...

IV. Healing as Release from Fear

[Page 42]

"Only the mind can create because spirit has already been created, and the body is a learning device for the mind.  Learning devices are not lessons in themselves.  Thier purpose is merely to facilitate learning.  The worst a faulty use of a learning device can do is to fail to facilitate learning.  It has no power in itself to introduce actual learning errors.  The body, if properly understood, shares the invulnerability of the Atonement to two-edged application.  This is not because the body is a miracle, but because it is not inherently open to misinterpretation.  The body is merely part of your experience in the physical world.  Its abilities can be and frequently are overevaluated.  However, it is almost impossible to deny its existence in this world."

How often do we hear that we create our life/experiences via our thoughts--our minds?  Often enough.  With that creation of circumstances does your body go out to experience what your mind has created.  While I've always been familiar with this philosophy, and try to utilize it myself, I've never seen it described in the context of how your body does the learning that your mind creates.

VI. Fear and Conflict

[Page 49]

"Fear is always a sign of strain, arising whenever what you want conflicts with what you do.  This situation arises in two ways: First, you can choose to do conflicting things, either simultaneously or successively.  This produces conflict behavior, which is intolerable to you because the part of the mind that wants to do something else is outraged.  Second, you can behave as you think you should, but without entirely wanting to do so.  This produces consistent behavior, but entails great strain.  In both cases, the mind and the behavior are out of accord, resulting in a situation in which you are doing what you do not wholly want to do.  This arouses a sense of coercion that usually produces rage, and projection is likely to follow.  Whenever there is fear, it is because you have not made up your mind.  Your mind is therefore split, and your behavior inevitably becomes erratic.  Correcting at the behavioral level can shift the error from the first to the second type, but will not obliterate the fear."

After my morning reading, this passage struck me the most.  It beat to me like no other.  Almost like a beacon to my current concerns.  This is probably where I'm at the most right now.  Merging my way out of the dilemma illustrated in the passage.  I won't shed the details, but this passage's truth is that profound for me at this moment.

So are you familiar with A Course in Miracles?  What are your thoughts on it, or the passages?  Could you relate to any of them, finding yourself muddled in your own thoughts while searching for clarity?  Comment and share your thoughts below.