One of the best ways to start to reverse this darkness in our lives is simply to look at ourselves in the mirror, and tell ourselves, “I Love you. I truly Love you for who you are right now at this very moment. You are perfectly imperfect, and you are so very beautiful!” Of course, I know that it may not be comfortable for many at first. It wasn't comfortable for me in the beginning.
What helps me get through these blocks is remembering the pain and the suffering that I have experienced in my life because of a lack of Love. I am not what the world would consider a success. At least I am not what the world that I know of would consider a success. I don't have a fancy car, a large income, a big screen TV, or the ability to go out and buy whatever I want. I have allot of dept from school. And I have two degrees that I have not been able to figure out how they could ever get me to a job where I would be fulfilled and earn a decent income. If this was all I was, I would be a real mess. But I know that I am much more than these hurts and regrets.
Everyday is a new chance to begin again, to live our lives in love and happiness, and to see the great abundance and blessings that are before us. It can be rather difficult to take that all that in at once. A wonderful practice is to say a prayer of thanksgiving whenever we have the time at least once a day, and especially at those moments when we are feeling ungrateful. You might be like me and have a low paying job with little security and little rights as an employee. I tend to start feeling like I should have more, and I am being treated unfairly. When these toxic thoughts come around, I do my best to remember, recall, and see before me the many blessing that I have in my life. Even if it is just as simple as the ability to stand and walk. If you have other blessings like family and friends be sure to include those as well.
If you are like me, make sure that you give thanks for that wonderful job no matter what you think you actually feel about it. Bless that job, your co workers, the customers, the ability to fulfill life's purpose of work, and the place that you work at. Louise Hay goes into depth about this in I Can Do It. She also gives quite a few “work place” affirmations. She explains that if you are not grateful for your current circumstances that you will not be grateful for whatever comes afterwards. And this is because gratefulness is a habit. It comes from how we honestly feel inside, which is built upon a lifetime of thinking and beliefs, rather than an instant fix from a pill that we can pop or one affirmation that we say. Your body can be made stronger through good eating habits and exercise. Your thoughts are how you exercise your mind, and the sights and sounds that you expose yourself to like music, books, TV, etc. are like food for you mind.
For the first time in my life, I am truly appreciating my job, and am I getting more and more joy out of it. New job opportunities that align with me and who I am are presenting themselves to me, showing me a path to them, I know they will be there waiting for me when I am ready. New friends and loved ones naturally come into my life, and people that can help and support me in becoming the person that I aspire to become. I have not met them through going to a meeting place where they gather, like a society or club, or directly seeking them out, but rather naturally through friends, family, and other bread crumbs that have been left for me to follow.
Antidepressants would simply allowed me to bump along through life's experiences, numbing me to both happiness and pain. It was nice not to be in pain on a surface level, but there was a deeper pain of unfulfillment that they could never address. This was simply because, there was no growth in life, on my path of Love and fulfillment without making myself open to embracing both joy and sadness. Have you wondered why there is a general sense of malcontent and uneasy in people, and chaos seems to be consuming people's hearts in the form of public shootings and suicide. If you are interested in learning more about the double sided coin of vulnerability, happiness and sadness, look into the sociological research of Daring Greatly by Brene Brown.
Learning to be grateful for the life that we currently lead is a great first step to learning how we can live a life that will be fulfilled in Love and happiness. This is pulls allot from the law of attraction. It is not just a fancy new age belief or philosophy. It is old wisdom that goes back far into the past. You can think of it like karma, “What goes around comes around.” The bible says, “You shall reap what you sow. (Galatians 6:7).”
People that are lucky know that good lies before them in whatever form that it my take. Let us develop this internal knowing together and shift ourselves in, not just the understanding, but the presence of everything that is good in life. Smile! :-) Only good lies before you! Love yourself and allow that to extend to others! Feel the good vibes all around!! I love you! Now embrace the day!!!
Once we are able to come out of that funk of malcontent for longer periods of time, we will be able to start creating more focus and intention toward a goal that will truly allow us to shine. This is where things start to really get exciting. When we live our life with intention, things will fall in line more and more. I will talk about this more in the next article on For the Love of Self.
Here are some resources that I have found useful for healing and hope when things just seem to be sucking me dry.
CBT Counseling Therapy
http://ezinearticles.com/?Depressed,-But-Not-Out-of-Options&id=9234980
Yoga pose of the week
This pose is very good for grounding both literally and emotionally. You can increase your balance, concentration, and alertness by practicing it. It can serve as a resting meditative pose when you need to recover from a more difficult posture. It engages all the muscles of the body. “Mountain pose” mainly strengthens the thighs, but also strengthens the knees, buttocks, ankles, abdomen, shoulders, and neck. You can relieve sciatic pain in your lower back, hips, and outer thighs as well. It also helps reduce the effects of flat foot.
Don't be deceived by “mountain pose's” seeming simplicity. Allot of yoga comes from the nuance of body movement. Being sensitive to the tiny movements of your body to align with the poses correctly is a very important to bringing out yoga's full benefits and preventing injury. Remember to never try for a movement that hurts your body. In “mountain pose” there are many small movements: all four corners of your feat are firmly planted on the floor, the heart is lifted, the shoulders are drawn down, shoulder blades reach toward each other, the hips point forward, the crown of the head is lifted. Most of you body is as straight vertically as it can naturally be, arms are at your sides, hands stretch palms forward or facing your hips, and feet are together or hips width apart.
Remember to smile with your practice my friends! Smiling helps your mind and spirit stay open to yoga's abundant blessings and benefits.
I am always looking for new topics to talk about. Please let me know what you would like to hear about that relates to self love and succeeding in life.
I am very grateful for your time in reading this, and I hope that it has inspired something wonderful inside and outside of yourself. I am truly enriched for having such a wonderful reader! May your day be full of goodness and love! <3 Aaron Szczurek :-)