Category: expansion

What is Being Authentic?

So, now that I’m being authentic, I’m going to discuss what authenticity is. According to Dictionary.com, it means:

adjective

  • not false or copied; genuine; real:
  • having an origin supported by unquestionable evidence; authenticated; verified:
  • representing one’s true nature or beliefs; true to oneself or to the person identified:
  • entitled to acceptance or belief because of agreement with known facts or experience; reliable; trustworthy:

In other words, not like Trump. (Couldn’t help myself)

What’s it like being authentic? First of all I can’t get away with pretending anymore. I’m amazed how often I’m tempted to answer a question with a contrived, made-up response to impress. Where does that come from?

Yesterday, someone asked me about a painting he had commissioned and which he had already paid me for. He wanted to know how the painting had helped me. I told him I’d received many compliments–which was the truth–and that I’d sold several other commissions because of the painting I’d done for him–which was a half-truth. I’d sold other commissions but none because of the painting I did for him.

The lie made me felt uneasy. A little while later, I realized why. Having to lie hadn’t come from who I am being now. It came from the me who had been not good enough, who thought she had to sell herself.

So, now I know one of the gifts of being authentic. It’s all about accepting myself as I am. I don’t have to create a me to cover up any flaw of who I am.

Another way I’ve caught myself not being authentic is when I don’t feel all right with being spontaneous. I can’t help but be authentic when I allow myself to be sponaneous.

This happened several days ago. My daughter pointed out that I often get angry when she tells me how she listens to her ego undermining her. I realized the anger I felt was coming from all the times I’d done the same thing. I had a hard time getting over listening to my ego? Why was I expecting her to not pay attention to what she knows is hurting her when I did that same thing to myself so many times before?

The answer to that is simple. I’m not used to coming back with an honest response when people, anyone, catches me being less than empathetic. In the case with my daughter, I thanked her for pointing that out to me. I told her I’d try to catch myself if it ever comes up again.

So, I’m still in the early stages of getting over being hard on myself. But already I feel a relief and a cleansing going on each time I recognize the truth and share that with others. Try it! You may just may like it.

When To Hold On and When to Let Go

A quote from Byron Katie:

“Life is simple. Everything happens for you, not to you. Everything happens at exactly the right moment, neither too soon or late. You don’t have to like it—it’s just easier if you do.

I believe that when you believe this, when this idea is integrated in all aspects of  you—your physical, emotional, social, spiritual, and intellectual self—you will be free.

I believe all this, but even though I know it, it’s still sometimes hard. I resist having to change, even though I know it’s in my best interest. Sometimes I have to go through really difficult challenges when I don’t pay attention to what I need to do.

I’m at that point right now. I’ve been stuck with my writing. I need to change because what I’ve been writing doesn’t reflect who I am anymore. I have changed, so I have to be authentic to the woman I am now. 

What’s hard about that for me is that I can no longer hide behind what’s been safe for me all these years. It’s time to face my fears and let go.

I think it’s time for me to practice what I preach. I can’t hold on anymore, so I have to let go. I need to feel at ease being vulnerable. It’s time to open my heart to what is real and true and a little scary.

I do know that fear is a great motivator. So, I start with facing the fear that I might fall on my face, I might make mistakes that send me reeling in frustration to the depths of desperation. I might feel I’m going backwards. I know that discomfort is something I might have to live with for awhile. 

But what if I focus on what I want? What if I believe I’ll be surprised, thrilled and delighted with the outcome of my having let go. What if, instead of my feeling not up to the challenge, I end up loving how powerful I feel now that I let go? 

Hey, this might be fun. Will you join me on this journey into the unknown? We might end up being friends and co-creators of a better way for all of us to approach our fears. Anyway, I’m on board if anyone else is interested.

Thanks for reading through my rambling. I usually do this in my journal, but I’m committed to being honest to not just myself, but everyone.  

A Do Over

Writing this blog has made me realize it’s going to be more challenging than I thought it would be. Talking about the changes I’m ready to be isn’t BEING the change.

In my previous post “A New Beginning,” I said, “I’m hoping that by sharing what I’m going through, you will find coincidences that help you navigate your lives.” That’s what I wanted to be doing in this blog. I wanted to write from the expanded, the me who has changed—to be the change. I failed.

But then, instead of sharing what was happening to me in the moment, in my post “What is Success?”, I wrote a post like my earlier posts. I wrote from my ego, the part of me who likes to think I have ideas that will help others. That wouldn’t be a problem if my ego didn’t need to be important. And the only reason I needed to feel important is because I didn’t.

What I’m learning now is to face all that I do or think or say that sabotages my wellbeing. And then I forgive myself. Acknowledging and accepting my mistakes makes it easier to let go. Letting go opens me to feeling feel freer and stronger.

When I reread my last post, after I had posted it, I saw how I’d stayed safe rather than expose how much more I know. I was ashamed that I’d not been honest. So, I am sharing the Ho’oponopono prayer with you. This prayer is part of an ancient Hawaiian practice, and it could play a central role in your relationships and your own physical and emotional healing.

Ho’oponopono has simple words yet has a powerful impact on your life. They say by following a simple step of repeating the prayer all the time, it will cleanse your body, making you a happier person. I use it when I realize some belief, judgment or fear is impeding my wellbeing.

The following steps elaborate more about the Ho’oponopono prayer.

  • I Am Sorry — Repentance
  • Forgive Me—Forgiveness
  • Thank You—Gratitude
  • I Love You—Love

And, yes, I talk to myself. I tell myself it’s okay to make a mistake. I remind myself that the mistake was what I had to do in order to know when I don’t like what I’ve just done. If you don’t know what you don’t like about yourself, how are you going to know what you’d prefer.

I prefer being honest no matter how difficult it may be for me at the time because I know that’s the only way to feel good about myself and to feel free and confident.

So, thank you in joining me in forgiving myself. If there’s something you would like to forgive yourself for, you’re welcome to join me.

What is Success?

What is success for you? I used to think having more money than most people would make me feel successful. But it did the reverse. There are many things about money that impede good relationships.  I experienced moneyed people thinking their wealth meant they were special, causing those who didn’t have as much money to think of themselves as less. And in your own relationship with yourself, if you think having more money will make you feel you’re not only good enough, that you’re successful, it doesn’t.

So, since money doesn’t guarantee your success, can anything else? I thought becoming a successful artist would make me feel successful. It did for a while. I loved the adulation, the compliments, the notoriety, when I had my first one woman show for my artwork in New York. But living in the limelight never brought me happiness. After a while, having to prove yourself repeatedly to other people that you are you can produce more success, it gets to be painful.

We could make a list of all the things people think will make them feel successful, but nothing by itself ever does. So what does? 

What makes you feel successful has everything to do with what’s inside you. True success is in the journey toward manifesting  what you love doing, being, or having. It’s in the solving the problems, learning new skills, feeling our way through what’s blocking us. Success is the result of growing and becoming more.

Now I’m going to ask you a personal question. What would your life look like if you didn’t care what other people thought? If there were no “Should’s” and “Have to’s”.

I don’t know about you, but I felt freed not having to fit in or worry about how someone else was going to be affected. I felt power I’d never known I could feel.

What is genuine success for you? Whatever your answer, the first step you must take is to embrace the desire to be more. The second step on our way to success is to make a commitment. We need to make that promise because we are afraid of change, so we need to know our goal is more important than our feeling safe.

After committing, look for times you feel resistant. Resistance is the signal you’re on the right path. It’s a sign we’re close to success. The key to let go of the resistance is in choosing to take action over feeling the fear.

Success happens when we’ve come to that feeling of completion in every facet of ours lives. It exists when success encompasses all aspects of our lives.

As we delve deeper into success, we’re going to explore becoming more powerful. Thank you for reading this far. There’s so much more to come as we point out the blocks that stop most people from succeeding at success.

If You Want to Move Forward, You Have to Move With the Truth

gayle

I wrote my memoir not sure why I needed to do this. I’m an artist. Having been painting and learning to paint better was my life.  I knew little about writing.

But something deep inside was stirring. I had the urge to write about myself. Maybe I wanted to explore why I’d done what I had, but I was so intent on knowing truths that lay deep inside, the why’s seemed irrelevant. Something was there to explain why writing my story would make sense.

I couldn’t get what I was after by planning what to write. Thoughts kept me further from what I was after.

The truth comes from that place of feeling good; the place known to be in the flow. It’s where you embrace what is. We find truth living in the moment without a care in the world.

The truth never comes from our thoughts. Our thoughts are full of beliefs, judgments, and fears we formed through the years. Our thoughts are in the truth’s way. They’re the blocks to our happiness.

Arriving at the truth requires us to put aside our beliefs, judgements and fears. How do we do this? There are many teachers who can show you a way like Byron Katie, Joe Dispenza, and many other teachers on Mindvalley and other sites.

But I’ve found a simple way you can learn to do this for yourself. Writing your story will help you see where past experiences contributed to form those beliefs, judgments and fears. Let me give you an example from my life story.

When I was first married a long time ago, in the 60s, I believed I was beholden to my husband. He was the one earning the money I lived on while I was free to do what I wanted to do. In return for my freedom, I believed I had to comply to his wishes.

On Sunday nights, when our maid had the night off, I’d ask my husband if we and our four children could go out to dinner. He’d tell me it was okay. I bathed and dressed the children, and when I was ready to go my husband would decide he’d rather stay home. He’d go to the grocery store for TV dinners.

I’d feel harassed and beaten down. I’d cry.

Several years later my beliefs, thoughts and fears had gotten worse, and I became depressed, I went for therapy with a psychologist. When I told him what happened at our house on Sunday nights, he asked me why I didn’t take the children out without my husband.

It was as if a light bulb went on in my head, illuminating all the options I had that I hadn’t seen before. In that moment I realized no one was keeping me from going out to dinner but myself. The only reason I couldn’t see was that I believed it wasn’t possible.

Where did the belief that I couldn’t spend money without my husband’s approval come from? When writing about that time in my life, I saw how that belief came from all the times he admonished me for spending money. Each time I capitulated, and the more I didn’t question this belief, the harder it became to see any options for myself.

Writing my story helped me see how I’d believed I wasn’t good enough. Why else would I allow someone else to dictate what I can or can’t do?

The first step in changing and moving forward comes when we realize that questioning our thoughts leads to empowering ourselves. The opposite—when we blindly continue following our beliefs, judgments and fears—we disempower ourselves.

If you really want to change and move forward in your life, you need to begin to “clean house” of disempowering beliefs, judgments and fears. It gets easier with each success. In fact, after a while you will hear your thoughts and be able to turn them off.

One easy way to learn how to do the work of disempowering your thoughts is to go to Katie’s website https://thework.com/, where you’ll find a step-by-step description of how to do it.

I’ll be posting more about our thoughts in more posts, so stay tuned in. I welcome questions you might have for future posts.

 

 

 

 

Self-Compassion: Why bother?

 

Why has the subject of self-compassion become so trendy over the last few years? Why are psychotherapists, mindfulness teachers and life coaches touting its benefits today?

Self-compassion, a Buddhist belief, became a mainstream and popular idea when psychologist Kristen D. Neff of the University of Texas became interested in the subject. After reading Buddhist teacher Sharon Salzberg’s book, Lovingkindness in 2003, Neff wrote a paper on the subject and it was that paper instigated a snowball of interest,

Neff tells us that self-compassion is based on the premise that showing kindness to oneself is essential for showing love towards others.

Three indispensable elements of self-compassion she found from her reading were:

  • Self-kindness vs. Self-judgment
  • Common humanity vs. Isolation
  • Mindfulness vs. Over-Identification

Since Ness’ paper, research has found that self-compassion has many positive rewards. You are less prone to anxiety and depression. Self-compassion bolsters confidence. Being kind to yourself can make it safe to fail, which encourages you to try again. You are more than likely to sustain stronger relationships with others. And psychologists have found that there are links between self-compassion and health-promoting behaviors related to eating, exercise, sleep and stress management.

My first encounter with the concept of self-compassion took place around 1980, way before all the hoop-la. I was driving back home from shopping with my daughter, who had just graduated college. Upset with myself over a mistake I’d made at a store with the money in my wallet, I was overcome with shame and guilt,

“I’m so stupid!” I told my daughter. “I can’t believe I did that! It was so careless. If I had just paid attention instead of talking so much, I wouldn’t have been so negligent with my money. I can’t imagine how I managed to pull a hundred-dollar bill out and lose it.”

“Mom, why are you being so hard on yourself,” my daughter asked? “You never speak to other people like that.”

That moment was an Aha! moment. Where had that negative self-talk come from? What my daughter told me was true. I had never scolded my children or criticized others like I just had done to myself.

A simple conversation, my daughter’s response ended up changing my life. I became aware I didn’t know my mind. There had to be a great deal more going on inside my head if I had been ignorant of what triggered my scolding myself.

Unfortunately, at that time, in the 80’s, no one was sharing advice with how to deal with self-judgment, much less self-compassion. It took a long time, and experiencing many clues, to finally learn how to deal with my negativity. But I never gave up wanting to know more.

All the self-help books I read didn’t approach the subject. It seemed like almost everyone around me was also judging themselves in one way or another. Most everyone believed our thoughts of judging and negative beliefs were true, part of being human.

Finally the first clue came from a book about forgiveness around 2009. Radical Forgiveness by Colin Tipping was written to help overcome anger and blame, however forgiving others also helped me to perceive gifts that I would never have received without those difficult encounters. Forgiveness served to give me a sense of peace.

Besides opening myself to a sense of compassion for the person I was angry with, I found myself able to forgive myself for my part in those broken relationships.

I also realized, through forgiving others, a stronger sense of commonality with all those I had judged and felt anger toward. But even though I felt compassion for others the voices in my mind persisted. They became more annoying now that I had felt that sense of peace.

Then I picked up Michael Singer’s book, The Untethered Soul. I finally had a way to put an end to frustrating, habitual thoughts plaguing me. Singer suggests that, instead of fighting with them, by allowing them, not judging them, and by backing away from any connection with them, seeing them as the lies they were, they didn’t bother me anymore. I could even laugh at them.

I really thought that I had become enlightened, but that cocky attitude crumbled as anxiety and stress crept in again. I quit procrastinating, and began to meditate again. This time, instead of feeling more anxiety while I meditated, I enjoyed a deep peace.

Now I know what self-compassion is and what it’s done for me:

By doing all I could do to stop judging myself, I learned how important being kind to myself was.  I laughed more, felt lighter, and loved myself more.

With forgiveness, I healed relationships. My anger had caused me to feel isolated from that person, and now a sense of our common humanity existed in its place.

With meditation, I became more mindful. Writing and painting are easier now that I can focus.

So, why bother doing all you need to do to become self-compassionate?

You’ll be kinder to yourself, you’ll enjoy being with yourself more, and you’ll feel more peace, love, and compassion.

You’ll be surprised with how much easier and better you have become at what you do. You’ll have more fun and work will feel like play. And a whole lot more!

It took me a long time to finally feel compassion for myself, but now with support all over the internet, such as Kristen Neff’s website, with everything you need to know about self-compassion, you can get the help to  feel so much better about yourself.