Showing posts with label Louise Hay. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Louise Hay. Show all posts

Sunday, November 15, 2015

Sleepytime! | 5 Audiobooks For Sleep PART ONE (In a Positive Way)

My nightly set up.  You can find the speaker HERE.
Sleepy time!
Now, I can’t be the only one who uses his/her Kindle for anything other than reading.  Though sadly I wish I could get into electronic reading.  The problem is I never seem to follow through with anything over 200 pages.  But that’s beside the point.  Except for watching the occasional Hulu or Netflix program (usually while cooking), my Kindle’s primary use is for putting me to sleep with audio books.  Yet, they’re not the kind of books you may be thinking about.  There’s no John Grisham giving me lawyer intrigue during my dream state.  Danielle Steele isn’t lulling me with romance stories.  Though I may need to try her out to get some kind of romantic action.  And while I would love Harper Lee’s latest; Go Set a Watchman's narrator isn't storytelling me to sleep either.
Whether it's seen as accessing the subconscious to switch better thinking thoughts into my waking/conscious state; I listen to self-help, motivational and inspirational books while winding into sleep. 
It started years ago when I would lull myself to sleep listening to psychic Sylvia Browne’s lectures on cassettes.  I used to probe her material at a time when I desperately sought answers through self-realization.  The other truth was her harsh, smoke-stretched voice relaxed me.  ASMR buzzes tingled all throughout my brain at the sound of her crackly voice.  

I’ve never been able to sleep in utter silence.  Actually, I don’t know anyone who can.  So learning to listening to audio books helped me sleep.  They cut the soundlessness.  The darkness.  Complete silence does a number of things, but the primary one is over-activating the imagination.  So groaning pipes become ghosts.  Popping wood becomes approaching footsteps.  But a storyteller with just the right narrative voice relaxes like no other.
With so much said, I would now like to share five of my favorite audiobooks for falling asleep.  In a positive way...

Embracing Change - Louise Hay

Louise Hay changed my life back in 2011.  You can click on the LABEL at the bottom of the post to see whatever other post to understand why and how.  Nonetheless, without a doubt her material/audio books dominate my Audible library.  Fifteen audio books and lectures stay at my fingertips.  Night after night.  And even day after day.  However, as it regards nights, I mostly find myself clicking on her lecture, Embracing Change to lull me to sleep.
Embracing Change features Louise in her classic profession of sharing her profound–though always ecstatically simple–ideas on bettering one’s life from the inside out.  Her examples emerge through her own life experiences.  Such as her overcoming cancer.  The abuse she faced as a child.  Her divorce.  And so forth.  It’s soft.  It’s gentle.  It’s caring.  It’s calmingly smooth against restless emotions.  And her ideas really encourage us to release so many of the negative thoughts and afflictions that hold us back.  Of course with the necessary tools and affirmations to make it happen.  One can never go wrong with her.  Seriously, Louise Hay has been in the self-improvement game for decades and is worth every bit of our attention.  Including in our dream state.


Being in Balance: 9 Principles for Creating Habits to Match You Desires – Wayne Dyer
If anyone should follow or slip above Louise Hay, it’ll be Dr. Wayne Dyer.  Sadly, of course, Dr. Dyer has recently passed.  But his books and lessons will always remain.  And one I’ve enjoyed over the years is Being in Balance: 9 Principles for Creating Habits to Match Your Desires.
While the same can apply toward others in his field, I love Dyer for his ability to shift your thoughts and emotions into acknowledging the bigger picture.  Whether it’s learning how to find asylum from the past mistakes that torture our life.  Or learning how to trust ourselves and others.  Dyer's teachings brings comfort in much needed spaces.  No matter how many times he impresses his thoughts and share his ideas, he always provides a new or refreshed direction at approaching many of life’s struggles.  Of course with the insightful tools necessary to manage the inner work involved.  And Being in Balance takes the essence of the Law of Attraction on with a balanced touch between the Universe and recipient.  Of course immensely refined through Dyer’s wisdom.  And gentle narrative for those interested in falling asleep peacefully to his wisdom.

Mom & Me & Mom – Maya Angelou
Now this author (among other things) takes little explanation or introduction.  So, we’ll just get right into what her book, Mom & Me & Mom is about.
If you’ve read Maya Angelou’s autobiography, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, then you should be familiar with her history.  Particularly the history between her and her mother.  Her mother, Vivian Baxter, was certainly a character.  Commanding and demanding as she was, her actions weren’t always in acknowledgment of Maya and her brother.  As Vivian’s marriage grew rocky, she sent Maya and her brother away to the South to live with their grandmother.  An action boiled with resentment inside of Maya.  It’s in Mom & Me & Mom where Maya takes us on the road for reconciliation within her relationship with her mother.  The book pinpoints the different areas of that journey, as well as what the two women walked away from that eventually brought them closer.  This is easily one of my favorite audio books to fall asleep to.  It’s also one that I find myself staying up in the dark listening to.
Thanks for tuning in.  I’ll be back with PART 2 of this list.  There I’ll get into my time with Marianne Williamson, Doreen Virtue, and Lisa Nichols.
Share your experiences and comments below!

Friday, January 9, 2015

Fresh Start with You Can Heal Your Life

It’s the New Year and I still want to stress (well, I should use a better term) the idea of giving ourselves a fresh, positive jolt for 2015. In doing so, I want to share one of my favorite books on creating favorable changes–both the outer and inner kind. It’s the book that brought me some much needed comfort over the years, because there‘s nothing exciting about dealing with those dark nights of the soul we all unavoidably must face.  And you know those nights, when it feels like Life is trolling you like a Whack-a-Mole game.  So unless you're like a few people I used to know who'd rather ride Life until the wheels pop off, you may have cause to focus on a little personal development. Nevertheless, the book, as seen to your left, is Louise Hay’s self-help debut, You Can Heal Your Life.

I was moderately familiar with Louise Hay back in my Sylvia Browne days (found somewhere in the headache of my early twenties).  Still, it wasn't until The Secret powered on 2006 with its quantum-ness talks on the law of attraction that a slew of related authors came blinking on my personal development radar.  Louise Hay, obviously, was one of those authors. Working at Borders, I checked You Can Heal Your Life out for a couple of days.  And I wasn't deterred by a manager who asked in subtle disgust whether or not I actually believed what you think/believe influences the makeup of your life. He was an adamant skeptic (and ain't nothing wrong with that) and thought I was crazy.  But really I was just searching for answers. I needed some mental and emotional healing; and to be perfectly honest, he, at the time, was part of my problem.

Unfortunately, I wouldn't truly appreciate You Can Heal Your Life until years later–after watching the video shown somewhere below this post. I mentioned in a past post what incident compelled me to seek out Louise Hay again.  Since then I've collected many of her books, audio lectures, DVDs, and even went to see her live in Atlanta during one of her I Can Do It tour stops.


See, I fell in love with You Can Heal Your Life because it is simple and uncomplicated with its purpose, while addressing multiple areas of personal development.  In an easy and comprehensible way, it covers relationships, jobs, aspirations, and spirituality (to name a few).  It leaves aside all of the quantum and scientifically researched talk for the fundamentals and basics.  It doesn't try to prove much of anything, while teaching you why you shouldn't sell yourself short as it concerns Life and the one you were given.  You learn how to recognize those bad thinking habits, and shift them from the inside out. And if it’s hard to drill your way through to change and giving up old, discouraging habits and attitudes, the affirmations given in the book are there to guide you in the right direction.  And say inner peace still doesn't come so easily, well you'll at least know that control how much of it you'll give yourself.

Nevertheless, I think ultimately (as it’s boiled down and compressed into my subconscious), You Can Heal Your Life reminds me that everything is going to be okay, and to trust the God/Universe. I went into picking up the book the second time because I needed to understand how everything is working out for my highest good, and from each experience only good will come. And that I am safe. And that I have to love the Self. Anytime I feel like things are clouding up around me, I pick up this book to beat it all back. It’s like an emotional beacon toward getting myself out of the rut of obsessing and over-thinking situations that are out of my hand. It allows me to let go, even just for a moment.

Lately I haven't been picking the book up as much as I feel like I should, so I will myself to keep it front and center and off my bookshelf. Next to my bed will do.  Just like the audio lectures/books of Louise Hay that I listen to when I just can't seem to fall asleep on my own.

Saturday, May 3, 2014

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.

  

Friday, December 27, 2013

The Tao and Limitlessness

A couple of years ago I was sitting alone in the computer lab at school looking at a big, less-than-20%-grade-achievement on a line of math assignments that would surely reroute me back into the course the proceeding semester.  I was struck with panic.  I was tired and wasted with the idea that I could somehow conquer my math anxiety as well as other complications with the generality of arithmetic.  I was just about ready to let my defeat wash over me, turning into a wave of hate and resentment for life as I hit another block.  Somehow I managed to swallow a scream.  Then I simply... quietly... just sat still.  That stillness was silent enough for me to recall a video featuring Louise Hay and her philosophies on life.  Right then and there I managed to calm myself by stating the affirmation she shared in the video.  "All is well," she'd said.  "From this experience only good will come and I am safe.  For the Universe is on my side now and forevermore.  All is well."

That was all I had; I left out of that lab smiling.  While I didn't pass the course, a few months later I was redirected toward another school where I got all of the help I needed in math.  I left their prerequisite math course with a solid B.  Needless to say, I learned to use that affirmation often.  Whether a problem arises or I need to calm my thoughts down from over-obsessing about the future, I hang on to the truth that all is well.

After that experience I decided to seriously focus closer on the changes I wanted to make in my life through healthier thinking.  And while there were plenty, one of the old patterns of thinking gave me a little more resistance than others.  I found it difficult to squelch the idea that what was necessary and good in my life felt limited by my unconscious need to create time limits or expirations on them.  From money, to friendships, to my ability to accept grace and new found creative freedom, everything had a frustrating time limitation on it.  From the ability to be receptive to allowing certain dreams that I’d dreamed up to be, or to at least staple them down to becoming possible through some general actions toward their direction, had a time limit.  It was as if things had to change at a certain time in my life because I was always trying to escape the possibility of being tied down to a worthless existence.  I couldn't trust the process and there seemed to never be enough to work with.

Reversing that form of limited thinking required me to put forth the ever true concept that whatever I needed from God/Universe is forever in a state of endless abundance and assistance.  There is no limit to what God/Universe can do and provide.  Therefore, there is no need to limit my thinking about money because money would always be available to get me where I desired.  There was no need to think about my lack of friendships because friendships were always available and ready for creation (though most of that issue resided in my reclusive ways toward others).  There was no need to believe that my creativity had a limit, because God/Universe would always provide avenues to explore my creativity and share it further.  Inspired by change, I realized that all things are possible if I let go and put trust where it belongs.

Relating the Tao’s translation by Derek Lin to Wayne Dyer’s made me realization that the purpose of Chapter/Verse 4 is to recognize that bottomless abundance provided by God/Universe, and that we have to trust in how endless such a resource is.  Much of that realization can be achieved by reading the first four lines.  Nevertheless, let’s start with Lin’s translation stating:

The Tao is empty

When utilized, it is not filled up
So deep!  It seems to be the source of all things


It blunts the sharpness

Unravels the knots
Dims the glare
Mixes the dusts


So indistinct!  It seems to exist

I do not know whose offspring it is
Its image is the predecessor of the Emperor


Whereas Dyer’s translation reads:



The Tao is empty

But inexhaustible,
Bottomless,
The ancestor of it all.


Within it, the sharp edges become smooth;

The twisted knots loosen;
The sun is softened by a cloud;
The dust settles into place.


It is hidden but always present.

I do not know who gave birth to it.
It seems to be the common ancestor of all, the father of things.

Amazing, right?  Probably the shortest and clearest verse I’ve come across so far.  I find myself drawn to the comfort of words--between the two translations--like “empty”, “inexhaustible”, and “bottomless.”

So how do we shut our minds down long enough to let God/Universe/Tao do what it does and provide for us with its bottomless edge of abundance and assistance?  Or how do we allow these “forces” to bring abundance through ourselves?  It takes practice, but I believe the key within all of this is to quickly affirm that all is well.  This allows our mind enough calm to let God/Universe/Tao to provide us clear answers, or even deliver us the solution.  As I shared in my little mathematics story, I learned to quickly shut my mind up when problems arise.  Instead of jumping up to resist the issue, I tell myself that all is well.  This gives me time to chill, reorganize my thoughts, and put aside all of the thoughts that only make the situation worst.  Doing so at least gives me enough time to think up a solution or allow a solution to come.  Sometimes those solutions don't show up until days down the road, but I have to trust that that's okay too.  I'm not saying I always get it right, but I am always aware of the potential behind the tool of simply stating that "all is well".  From there, I begin to trust the process when the resources surrounding me are abundant.

Lesson number 125 titled, In Quiet I Receive God’s Word Today, in A Course of Miracles kind of expands on the idea of silencing ourselves to grasp what many refer to as that inner voice (I leave that open to personal interpretation; some say it's angelic, God, Christ, etc.).  A passage from the lesson reads:

“Today He speaks to you.  His Voice awaits your silence, for His Word can not be heard until your mind is quiet for a while, and meaningless desires have been stilled.  Await His Word in quiet.  There is peace within you to be called upon today, to help make ready your most holy mind to hear the Voice for its Creator speak.”

A Course in Miracle: Text, Workbook, Manual for Teachers: The Advent of a Great Awakening. [United States]: Barnes & Noble, 2007. Print.

Dyer, Wayne W. Change Your Thoughts, Change Your Life: Living the Wisdom of the Tao. Carlsbad, CA: Hay House, 2007.

Lin, Derek.  “Accurate Translation of the Tao Te Ching.”  Accurate Translation of the Tao Te Ching.  N.p. http://www.taoism.net/ttc/complete.htm.

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