Redirecting Mind Chatter to the Mental Spam Box

Thoughts are so often with us but, like a letter in the mail, we do not have to receive them: they do not belong to us.

It can be hard to detach ourselves from these results of the mental process, particularly those which create a negative emotional reaction as so many thoughts do. It feels so personal as the what-ifs and perhapses run through the mind like an out-of-control child, absorbing the attention and triggering feelings of fear, stress and anxiety.

It is interesting that thoughts that are from the Higher Mind are quite different - not random or chaotic but reasoned, clear and helpful, and often decisive. They are an inner knowing, the certainty we have occasionally when we wake up about what to do or where to go. We could call them messages from Spirit.

Higher Mind thoughts are letters we are pleased to receive. Lower Mind thoughts are junk mail, communication you have not asked for and do not want: if you can't stop it coming through your mental door, then when it arrives you observe it for what it is and dispose of it calmly without getting attached to it.

I find it helps, if I get caught up in some mental spam, to take a few deep breaths when I am able to see what is occurring, to break the thought pattern and bring myself back to the present and myself, in the knowledge that the thought is not who I am. It is one of the hardest parts of being human to do this and after years of trying I do not always succeed. I will persevere, however, for I know it is worth it.

Nature provides us with the perfect example of how to do this. While birds and animals like to have structure and routine in their lives, largely driven by the rhythms and pulses of the Planet and beyond, they have the capacity nonetheless to change what no longer serves them effortlessly and move on.

If a nest of fledglings is predated, the parents will, season permitting, create a new brood; if the local climate becomes colder or hotter, species affected will move north or south; if the lion king in a pride dies, another is found to replace him. There is no sentiment in the world of nature, rather there is pragmatism and intuition based on the immediate need in order to survive and enjoy life. It is not cold-blooded, for there is much caring and tenderness and a shared sense of community responsibility based on the present moment.

Living as I do surrounded by wildlife, I am blessed to have many opportunities to observe how nature works, and to learn constantly from it. I see that a deer, say, has a wonderful capacity to accept, adapt, and let go. It carries no burdens, is (unless ill or under threat) physically and emotionally relaxed, and is fully connected with its environment. Apart from the need to subsist and beget new life it has no cares.

As I reflect on animals' capacity to let go and just be, I see how often I and perhaps you are not. Sometimes I find my back is tense, shoulders are raised, my mind is chattering and I am on auto-pilot, somewhere else than in my present. More and more I try and pause periodically in my day and check in to see where the tensions are and where my mind has gone, to try and bring myself into a constant state of "let go" at every level of my being. Just like the birds, the more I do this and am able just to be, the greater my sense of oneness with all that is above, all that is below, and all that is around me.

The more I do this, the more I watch my nature teachers, the more I realise, with gratitude, how much I have to learn - and that is fine.

Claire Montanaro is a skilled and sought after spiritual teacher, speaker, lecturer and author, with a reputation for inspiring and empowering her clients, students and audience. Based in Wales, her heartfelt desire is to assist people to actualise their total connectedness to all that is. Additionally, she offers a global philosophy for living and being in the new age for all seekers of truth. Seven simple yet intensely profound Principles form the core of her teaching, the practice of which embodies the New Consciousness and is a catalyst for One-ness. Her book "Spiritual Wisdom" is published by Piatkus Books. Her website can be found at http://www.inluminoglobal.co.uk where you can read more articles like this in her regularly updated Thoughts for the Day (blog).

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How To Love And Nurture Your Neglected Self

Opportunities To Love And Nurture Our Neglected Self

What is the relationship you have with yourself? Are you aware of your inner dialogue related with your self-worth? How do you treat yourself when you're angry, fearful or sad? How we relate to ourselves during our darkest moments shows what type of relationship we with ourselves. Everyone experiences positive emotions when things are going right, but what about when life isn't going according to plan? These are opportunities to love and nurture our neglected self because the disowned self is the one we must come home to. What do I mean by coming home to ourselves? It means creating a place to honour our emotions, especially the difficult ones which call for our attention.

Many people run away from their negative emotions, and I used to be one of them. Besides, who wants to experience negative states regularly? We want to feel alive and happy and negative emotions don't fit into that plan. Or do they? Negative emotions serve a purpose and we mustn't run away from them but deal with them with openness and compassion. Because they are important messengers and running away delays our emotional well-being. Think about the negative emotions you experience from time to time? How do you process them? Do you journal how you feel and notice what they're trying to tell you?

Consider the following scenario as an example of why we must love and nurture our neglected self. Your boss constantly criticises you on your work performance, and you feel a sense of: sadness, frustration and anger. Over time, you bottle these emotions because they remind you of the disparaging comments from your boss. But what if there's an underlying message contained within these emotions? Perhaps by connecting with them on a deeper level, you learn not to take the criticism personally but improve respective areas of your work thus leading to a promotion.

Make Room For Negative Emotions

Emotions are transitory events that come and go from our nervous system, hundreds of times a day. Most people are not mindful of them because there's so much going on inside their heads. That is why we should listen to what is taking place beneath the surface of our lives, otherwise we will succumb to the negative emotions like a tsunami. Connecting with our emotional life means checking in with ourselves to see how we're doing. It means stopping, feeling and listening to what the emotions are trying to convey. A practice I undertake when anger, frustration or fear emerges is to stop what I'm doing and place my hands on my heart to observe my emotions. I sit and feel them, no matter how difficult or uncomfortable they are. I know these emotions will pass, and my job is to connect with them through an embodied experience.

An embodied experience means to somatically perceive through our nervous system, the emotion/s without deferring them. Many people distract themselves via: drinking, drugs, food, shopping, etc. when negative emotions surface. But eventually the emotion will seep through and grab our attention, when we least expect it. Our emotions are our soul's calling card. They don't have an agenda other than to communicate the essence of our true selves. They help us to make sense of life, so we can live in congruency with our authentic self. For example, if you're not receiving adequate love and affection from your partner, your emotions will tell you something isn't right. Some people try to rationalise it by telling themselves their partner is busy at work or has a lot on their plate. But our emotions don't lie because they are the foundation of our intuition, if we care to listen. Perhaps we're afraid to tell our partner we need more intimacy in the relationship? We might fear putting our demands on them will make them think we're being demanding and so we hold back.

Have you experienced something like this before? It might start out as a gut feeling that grows and turns into confrontation because you haven't communicated yourself properly. Therefore, we must love and nurture our neglected self because it is the part of us we need to come home to. The neglected self is the comfortable sofa we lay our weary body after a long day at work. It is the comfy pyjamas we wear on a cold winter's day. But like all emotions, we must also make room for negative emotions and process them with openness. The key is to be with your emotions and feel them in your body. Simply, stop what you're doing, and breathe into that area until the emotion dissolves or transforms.

I did this exercise recently after experiencing anger and tension from a busy day that didn't go as planned. I was sitting down late one evening, looking forward to reading, and was repeatedly interrupted, which led to anger and stress. I remember a thought entering my mind that said: "I don't have time for this right now." In the next moment, I dropped what I was doing and breathed deeply for three or four minutes, whilst moving my awareness to my chest where the anger was situated. What took place moments later was the most exquisite love I have experienced. Its presence was reassuring and comforting and I didn't want to return to what I was doing. I've since experienced many more moments like this because what I learned is that on the other side of our negative emotions is a pure and abiding love that beckons us to come home to. It is this love we must nurture often, instead of neglecting coming home to our true self.

Do you want to lead a remarkable life? Are you committed to taking action despite your fears and doubts? If so, download your FREE copy of my eBook NAVIGATE LIFE right now, and start your amazing journey of greatness today!

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How to Maximize Goals, Affirmations and Visualizations

Do you want to get better results from daily exercises such as affirmations and visualizations, develop a better relationships with your inner self and get in touch with your personal power every moment of the day? The key to all of these things is energy. If you can learn to control the flow of energy within you, you can achieve these results and much more.

So, what exactly is energy? Energy is everything. Everything is comprised on energy. It has been proven scientifically that everything has its own energy field. This includes you and me, the cat, the trees outside, computers, cell phones and everything else. It has also been proven that any thought you have also creates it's own energy field. On a spiritual level, one might discuss the unlimited source of positive energy that comes from Source (God, the Universe, whatever word you are comfortable with). All of this energy is simultaneously individual and interconnected. What's important for you to know is that there is unlimited positive energy flowing around you at all times, and that you can use this positive energy. This positive energy enables all good things in your life, and when used consciously is the key to manifesting that which you desire into your life.

You may already be aware of your energy. If you are not, just know that it's there whether you are aware of it or not. You probably already know about it, you just may not realize it. The most simplistic way to get in touch with your energy is to become aware of your feelings. Your feelings are a result of and an indicator of the energy you are flowing. As you know, there is a whole array of feelings: happy, sad, fun, excited, grumpy, blissful, and on and on. You don't need to worry about all of that. What you want to become attune to is whether you feel good or you feel bad. This may sound ridiculously simple, but in fact many of us go on auto-pilot and do not pay attention to how we're feeling at all. As you go through your day, start to pay attention to yourself. Notice whether you feel good or feel bad. What if you don't feel good but don't feel exactly bad either? Unless you feel good, really good, you are not fully flowing positive energy.

Your body is an excellent indicator of feel-good/feel-bad. Often when we are not flowing positively, we tense our muscles, clench our jaw, hold our breath or develop a knot in our stomach. If you have any of these physical indicators or another sign of physical stress, there's a good chance you are not fully flowing feel-good energy. You want to practice sensing your energy until you know moment by moment if you are flowing positive energy or not. This may take quite a bit of practice, but you will begin to develop a better relationship with yourself, which is well worth the effort. In this fast-paced world, learning to be still within is a talent that will make you happier and increase your productivity.

The second step in the process of utilizing positive energy is learning to shift your energy to positive when it is not positive. You realize that you are not feeling good, perhaps because your stomach is knotted like a stone and you are cursing the person in the car ahead of you for not going faster than the speed limit. This realization is the first step, because you have stepped back from the situation enough to realize you need a shift. Next begin to breathe deeply, and if you are a visual person, imagine a clean, white slate, because each moment is a new moment in which you can shift your energy. Wipe the slate clean, and start the next moment in a feel good place. If this simple exercise is not enough to shift your mood, think of the things in this day that you have to be grateful for, while you continue breathing deeply. Be grateful that you are becoming aware of your energy and that you are assuredly making progress in using your energy to improve your life. Think of people, places, activities and things that you love. Think of something funny, laugh, smile or sing. Physiologically, it is hard to stay negative mentally when your body is doing something positive like smiling.

For those of you that practice affirmations and visualizations, the same energy techniques apply. Sometimes you might get into resistance saying your affirmations and visualizing things you do not yet have, and these exercises are all about energy. For instance, you are saying your affirmations, and come to one you have a lot of resistance about, "My life operates smoothly, easily and joyously." You say the affirmation, but your body is tensed and your mind is saying, "But my life doesn't operate smoothly, easily and joyously!" This is then the energy that you are placing into this affirmation, which is obviously not a good thing. Sometimes we really have to be with something a while before we can be comfortable with it. Many of us are raised with thoughts and ideas that do not mesh well with the life we want to live as adults. You may have old beliefs that you are not worthy of money, or that there is no such thing as true romance, or that life is hard and you have to work hard to achieve anything. So when we introduce affirmations and visualizations into our lives that clash with these old beliefs, it's sort of like the stereotype we've all seen in the movies of the sweet, innocent daughter bringing home the tatooed, long-haired boyfriend to meet the parents. Sometimes it takes time to reach that comfort zone. So if you find yourself reacting negatively to your affirmations and visualizations, don't be put off. Ask yourself why you are in resistance, to which your answer may be immediate or something that is slowly uncovered. Then spend time "being" with the idea, whether the idea is unlimited money, passion for your career, a healthy relationship or a beautiful body. Think about it, visualize it, read about it, clip out pictures you like, get to know what it's really like to have or experience what it is that you want. In this acclimation process, remember to stay aware of your feelings, breathe deeply, and refocus your energy if you become resistant. Once you are quite comfortable with every aspect of what it is that you desire, you will have shifted many if not all of the old beliefs that may be blocking its manifestation and you will be comfortable and intimate with and therefore energetically aligned with your desire. Your energy will quickly draw your desire physically into your life.

Approach your energy goals with the enthusiasm and lightness of a child. Make a fun game of it all, and this energy will spread throughout your life. Sanaya Roman said, "The path of joy is joy." You have the power each moment of the day, every day, to choose how you feel. What's your choice?

Copyright 2004, Alexia Alderson Chamberlynn

Alexia Alderson Chamberlynn is the Co-Owner of Prosperity Power Training, LLC, a national training company specializing in e-learning, life coaching and live group training. To contact Alexia or sign up for free services such as a Free 7-Day Training Program, free monthly newsletter and free quote-of-the-day club, visit the website at [http://www.prosperitypowertraining.com]. Alexia expects to release her first novel in 2005. Alexia lives in Florida with her son Gareth.

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