I love baths. Always have. Always will.

Every bath I have ever had has changed my life. Seriously. Those negatvie ions give me the most profound ideas every time. Like today.

I'm reading David Hawkins newest book "Transcending the Levels of Consciousness: The Stairway to Enlightenment". One of the first chapters is on shame, when it hit me - an AHA! Everything I have and experience in my life is simply a mirror for how I truly feel about myself - how I value my own worth.

I know for most of you this is neither new nor profound and believe me, I know because I teach this. I t-e-a-c-h this. I hold teleclasses based on this information. I created a great exercise called "Interview With The Vampires" to help others find out what they truly believe about themselves, not just what they think they believe. I've done that exercise more times than I can count. I teach this and today in the tub is the first time I got it in every cell of my body.

But I got it this time because I always thought my reality was created about what I believe I deserve. It's the wording that's key here. For me to really get this I had to stop trying to figure out what I believe about me. I'm also empathic. I have uber-feelings. Beliefs are mental and because I'm a Leo and a 7 on the enneagram* I have an exceptionally quick mind. So to keep trying to work with my mind on my challenges when it's my mind creating those challenges... hello Albert Einstein!

To really get this I had to move from my mind to my heart - to discover life based on how I truly feel about me , every time I make a decision. My actions or lack of, are then the result of the value I place on myself in the moment I choose.

You see, I know there's a difference between knowing and Knowing. I just never knew that I didn't Know this - until today.

What tipped me from knowing into Knowing? The chapter on Shame. It was when I read that instead of blaming myself , I could choose to blame ego's ignorance and still honor the essence of who I am. I read that committing an error isn't unforgivable, I could see error simply as a lesson. And when my mind says I "should have", I could choose instead to know "I was not able then".

Hawkins ends the chapter saying, "Shame is a consequence of the negation of the realities of both self and Self..."

That's when it all sank in. Negation of my self. Negative ions showing me how I negate myself and Self. Wow. I love baths.

* If you'd like information on the enneagram, a great site is www.enneagraminstitute.com

 

"Interview with the Vampires" Exercise

How do you know what beliefs are holding you back? Here's an exercise I call "Interview with the Vampires".

On a blank piece of paper write down a desire you'd like but have yet to manifest. Write it in the present tense, as if you already have it. For example: "I have a new car" or "I'm debt free". Underneath this desire, without thinking or judging, write down EVERY thought that has now begun to zoom through your mind. Write them all down. Don't think about them, don't evaluate them, and don't try to change them into something positive. The goal of this exercise is to discover what you truly believe about your desire. You need to look at them all, especially the ugly, dirty, mean and nasty ones!

Stop when you simply run out of thoughts. When you are done, take a quick look at what you wrote. These are your personal vampires, sucking the life out of your dreams and desires. These thoughts are the reason you don't have what you want. These are the vampires we need to run through with the Light of Truth.

Now take your list of vampires and circle all the ones that are of a similar nature. We are looking for Head Vampires, the ones that control all your negative thoughts about this desire.

After you have circled the Head Vampires, write them out in your journal or on another piece of paper. You want to expose these beliefs to objective truth. The more you are aware of them, the less power and control they have over your life.

Do you now see why you don't have what you want? How could your desire ever manifest with these beliefs running in the background of your mind, unnoticeable, controlling your life.

Now you know what's holding you back. You have done the work. Your new awareness is all you need to disempower whatever beliefs are keeping you from what you want.

 

Salma Hayek Interview with Oprah, 2003

 

"Life is a bunch of accidents that happen to you and somehow you survive them by taking advantage of them and then something magical happens and voila! You have the beginning of your dream.

But the accidents are the result of an intention - an intention created from a dream you are passionate about. So passionate - so strong is your passion -that the energy of it fuels your intention. And when it becomes so strong that not even the Universe can deny it, that's when the "accidents" take place.

The double-edged sword, the element that makes it all happen - that binds it all together - you have to be okay if it doesn't happen!

It's the excitement of the possibility of the adventure of the nothingness.

You must be willing to trade what you have - that may look great but feels wrong - for this nothing that could be something. It's the excitement of having the courage to leave behind what you have for the possibility of what could be.

You must be able to let go of what you have. You must not need it or let it define who you are. You must be okay without it AND you must be okay if the nothing turns into that - just nothing.

You become okay with the decision simply because you made the decision!

It's the act of leaving what isn't supporting you for the possibility of something better that makes you like yourself more for simply making this decision."

What do I mean by creative tension? Here's an example. Pick up a rubber band and hold it in your hands. Begin to stretch it. The natural state of that rubber band is to relax. The rubber band wants to get rid of the tension and return to the relaxed state. It takes effort to keep the rubber band stretched. You can feel the tension. Its power is determined by how far you stretch it. The further it's stretched, the greater the tension. What would happen if you were to stretch it as far as it can and let go?

This rubber band example illustrates the process of creative tension in our lives. We can use this tension to make things happen and more importantly, to get what we want. However we rarely use this process consciously to create our desires.  When the tension becomes too uncomfortable, we tend to let go. We give up what we want because we aren't comfortable with the amount of tension needed to create what it is we want!

What you may not realize is that this tension is only an indication of how far removed from your current reality your dream is. If you are experiencing a lot of tension, you have a very big dream. Is it still possible to create? Absolutely! Will you create it tomorrow? That depends on your level of certainty and how much tension you are experiencing.

For example, if you are earning $10,000 a year and your dream is to earn $10,000 a month, there will be some tension because of how far removed from your current reality your dream is. The tension isn't "bad". It's merely a sign to you that you are asking for something greater than you currently have.

Tension or discomfort in your life, when you are working towards what you truly want, is

merely an indicator of how far removed from your current reality your dream is!

Let's go back to the rubber band example. Imagine your left hand represents your current reality and your right hand represents what you want.

In your left hand is what you believe you deserve - your current reality. It is an honest, accurate description of what you truly believe you deserve right now. In your right hand is your desire - an imaginary experience of who you want to be, do and have.

There are two ways to relieve the tension:

• 1. Change what you currently believe you deserve, or
• 2. Give up your dream.  

The tension will resolve when you allow yourself to grow and align your belief system

around what you want, or when you let go and accept your current reality. Neither is right or wrong. The question you need to ask yourself is, "Does this current belief work for me?"

 - Excerpt from "The Creation Principle: A Formula You Must Know To Effectively Change Your Life" by Roberta Van Riet.