This has been a week of frightening world events. Watching what has been going on has been very disturbing. I’m certain that most people want peace in this world. I’m certain that most people want to see an end to suffering as well. My question is…how can we expect things to change in the world if we can’t even create the change we want to see in our own lives?

What if…you woke up tomorrow morning and did things differently.

What if you decided to train your mind and body to behave differently? I’m learning that your body is a reflection of your mind, and over time your body becomes so used to the thoughts that you’re thinking that it takes over and before you know it, you’re doing things you didn’t even think about first (keep reading). Your body can and does eventually learn to tell your mind what to do. It tells you to go back to the familiar ways that you’ve always dealt with your emotions…such as overeating, being angry, drinking too much etc. When your body is in control, you’ve lost control.

If you’re feeling like there has to be more to life and you’re wondering how to access better feelings and different emotions, you have to start by retraining your body. You have to imagine how you want to feel in the future in order to stop your body from telling your brain to keep practicing the same habits that keep you stuck in the same place, day after day.

This is so fascinating to me and the more I learn, the more I want to learn. If you’ve just found my blog and you’re just beginning to read some of my posts, I will tell you with complete certainty that I am a different, happier, more positive person than I was even a year ago. I will also tell you with complete certainty that my meditation practice has changed my life for the better and that things happen to me every day that lead me to new ways of thinking and seeing myself in the world. When I look back on little things that seem like coincidences, I’m amazed. I’m amazed at how far I’ve come and I’m excited about how far I can go! Meditation has connected me to the Divinity in my life and saved me from myself. I was going down a path leading to nowhere fast and I was certainly not feeling very proud of it!

What if you could change things and decide to be the greatest expression of your individual self each new day…one day at a time? Why not start today? Start to become aware of the thoughts that you’re mindlessly thinking that keep you stuck in the past and keep you from moving on to the life you really want to live.

If you’re not happy, if you feel lack and feel that something is missing, do you also know that it doesn’t have to be that way? What if you could become aware enough to constantly remind yourself when you’re thinking thoughts that connect you to the past and keep you stuck from moving on to the life you really want to live?

You absolutely can do this and time is ticking…so why not start now…today.

What if you decided that you would not respond to the emotions that keep you stuck? That requires being clear on who you no longer want to be and you have to take a look at the behaviors that make you the person you don’t want to be.

Ask yourself when you wake up in the morning how you want your day to go, how you want to feel and what you can do to make today a great day. It might seem counterintuitive, but deciding how you want to feel in then backing into it by asking…what do I need to do in order to feel how I want to?, really works. Once you’ve decided how you want to feel, can you stay present enough to decide on your behavior from moment to moment. Decide to get so caught up in the vision of how you want your day to go that you allow no room for anything that blocks that vision. If you can do this then your vision will become your experience…

It starts first in your mind and then manifests in your life.

How you think and how you feel, will create the life you live…either way. You can choose to continue with the old habits and thoughts or, you can begin to become aware of those unconscious thoughts that keep you stuck and begin to change.

This is the case for meditation. People say they can’t do it, they can’t keep their mind from wandering, but I’ve said it over and over again…meditation has to be a practice and some days will be better than others. You have to make time to sit down every morning and create a vision of who you want to be…sit long enough so that you really feel that you are the person you are envisioning. It won’t be easy because your body is addicted to certain emotions and your body will want you to get up. It happens to me often, but I know in my heart how important it is that I sit and I remind myself of that when I feel the urge to get up and start doing something. Being “busy” is another form of distraction from “doing the work”.

When you get up every morning and pick up where you left off the day before…being grumpy or negative, or not feeling excited about going to work, your day will be very predictable. When you do the same things you do every single day to create the same thoughts and emotions...you will to continue to live a life that you’re not in love with. You will continue to live the same life…day after day!

Here’s an example of your body controlling your mind…

Say you’re a person who is a little overweight and wants to loose 15 pounds or so, but every afternoon for some reason, you reach for a bag of chips and before you know it, you’ve eaten half the bag. Chances are you don’t consciously think - I’ll go get a bag of chips and eat half of it and then feel miserable…you just suddenly realize that you’ve eaten half bag of chips. It’s not even in your conscious mind until it’s over and you feel guilty…again! I’m sure most of us have similar experiences with different unconscious habits.

This is not your best or your best life.

When you can learn not to let your old habits control you and start the day by putting yourself in a state of joy, you’ll begin to be aware of those habits of the body and you’ll begin to anticipate (look forward to) a future that you’ve created with the vision that you’ve been able to see in your mind.

When you sit to meditate daily, you can more easily maintain the state you create during meditation for the entire day…take it one day at a time and you’ll see your life start to change and your body will no longer automatically go back to the same habits because you’ve created an awareness that is front and center In spite of the conditions around you that can normally make you crazy. These conditions are different for everyone…people who normally irritate you, traffic etc. If you can do this, things will happen in your life that will surprise and delight you.

You will begin to love yourself and be proud of what you’ve done. You will become addicted to joy!

Self love is such a buzzword these days, but no one really seems to understand what it means. Getting a pedicure or taking a bubble bath, or massage, or taking the afternoon off are all great things, but true self love is having enough discipline to create real change thereby creating the life you want to live. Do I sound like a broken record…it starts with a vision of who you want to be.

Who would you be without your addictions? Who would you be without the pain and guilt of the past?

Doesn’t that sound better than a bubble bath? Self love is built when you continue to sit and work with yourself and let your vision become so real that in your mind that actually feel how your dream feels. Remember…you have to believe it before you can see it!

When your body can let go of the past, you will begin to see reality from a whole different place. You will actually begin to have memories of the future because your vision is so real to you!

Do you ever hear people say that you need to get out of your own way? Here’s what that means…You have old thought patterns, old habits, and a way that your body has been moving through your day for years. You have to get out of your own way by creating different habits and thoughts. Live your life as if your prayer is already answered.

When you create a vision of your ideal life, that in itself is a prayer…it’s putting energy into the Universe and the Universe will begin to make things happen…and that is the Law of Attraction at work.

How would you live your life if you knew your prayers were already answered? Get up from your morning meditation as if your prayers are already answered. Walk and talk like the person you see in your future.

You can do the uncommon…you can do what no one expects you can do (I’m proof of that).

Don’t block the flow of the Divine with anger, guilt and thoughts of lack. There are no limitations on what you can do when you live your life as if your prayers have already been answered. When you truly practice this, the divine begins to flow through you. It’s not at all about having material things, but those things will come as well.

Let your mantra be…”Everything I need is within me and all my needs are met.” When you believe this, your joy begins to come from within you instead of you looking for it from external conditions. When your joy comes from within, you feel so good that you want to continue to have thoughts and do things that will keep you in that state of joy so you continue to mind your mind because that place of joy is where you want to stay.

There will always be things that trigger you and take you out, but with continued meditation and practice, you’ll be able to come back to a state of joy more quickly. You will become annoyingly aware of the times when your thoughts don’t serve you. There are times when I’m so aware that I actually think…”I never would have been aware of how bad that thought 2 years ago”.

Being the best version of yourself is your responsibility and your gift to the world.

Show courage, give your gifts, be compassionate because you’ve never walked in another persons shoes. On the days that you do what feels unnatural, or out of your normal “box”, you’ll feel like a super hero and you will bring others up with you. Live your life with passion. Shine as brightly as possible. Be grateful for what you have while at the same time holding a vision of the life that you’ve dreamed of.

The beginning of anything great starts within a person and while it may feel that the world is falling apart around us, I truly believe that change is coming. Change comes from chaos and more people are awakening to the power of the Divine that lies within them every day through inner work.

When you think about change on a greater level, such as world peace, you must realize that it starts one person at a time. If you don’t feel peace inside and if you’re home isn’t a peaceful place, then how do you ever expect the world to be peaceful. You have to create a life that reflects the change you want to see in the world. I find comfort in knowing that changing myself for the better is helping to change the world.