I perceived myself as one with everything.

Was this an astounding experience?  Yes.  Should it be surprising?  Of course not.

Mystics have said it for millennia.  Physicists have known it for the last 100 years or so.

We ARE all energy.  We perceive ourselves to be self-aware, so self-aware energy.

Why is it so hard to extrapolate that everything around us, clearly also energy, is also self-aware?  In my moment of connection, it was viscerally apparent to me that everything is self-aware…Again, no shocker, mystics and various philosophers have been telling us this for years.

In my "moment" I could also feel my environment respond to my thoughts, my energy.   Crazy?  A trick of perception?  A little too much theta wave activity?  Some will think so.  I would have to think people that aren't paying very close attention.  If you've never experienced any form of telepathy, precognition, unexplainable coincidence, or other signs of the non-linearity of the universe, I'd say you are either not paying attention, or you've got some limiting beliefs that are circumscribing your perceptions.  Or, maybe Mozart, this blog, your mind, your heart, and the Mona Lisa are all just epiphenomena of DNA's tendency to replicate.   (Oh, that crazy DNA, what will you do next?  )

What if we got past all the childish, my God is better than your God, my no-God is better than your God, ego-based debates, admitted that we ARE all energy, and that our experiences are energy interacting with energy, and designed ourselves, our lives and our institutions with this knowledge?

(BTW, hints on recreating my experience…  Learn to meditate and get present in the moment, open your heart, strive for holistic health, be IN love, and throw in Peter Green's Fleetwood Mac 4-24-1970, you can get it on Wolfgang's Vault… )

]]> http://www.coachmichele.com/2010/03/07/what-to-say-i-became-one-with-the-universe/feed/ http://www.coachmichele.com/2010/03/02/being-realistic-sucks-except-in-the-case-of-what-is-real/ http://www.coachmichele.com/2010/03/02/being-realistic-sucks-except-in-the-case-of-what-is-real/#comments Tue, 02 Mar 2010 23:52:12 +0000 Coach Michele http://www.coachmichele.com/?p=211 I hear it all the time…"I need to be realistic"…

What does being realistic mean?  For most of my clients here's what being realistic really means…

Being Realistic Really Means

• I will constrain my future with the same limitations I have right now
• I will limit my possibilities in the same ways most others in society do
• I will stop myself from dreaming too big
• I will give myself an excuse not to try
• I will continue my current conditions
• I will reject the aspirations of my heart and soul

Who needs realistic?

There is one important time to be realistic, and I'm just going to call it being real.  Being honest and accurate about the current conditions that exist at this very moment.  That is helpful.  That is an empowering way to be realistic.

How can you be REAListic about the future?  It isn't real yet!  All you are really doing by being realistic about the future is doing your best to make the future match your current real.  That's great if you don't want any changes or improvements.

If you do want changes or improvements, forget about being realistic about anything else than what is real.  This moment.

This weekend, I'll be speaking on You and Your Vision at the Vision Your Life retreat, being held this weekend, March 5 - 7 at beautiful Grail Springs in Bancroft, Ontario.

I'm going to focus on how your Vision grows from YOU…

Hope to see you there!

Of course, it was easy for me to determine the types of my loved ones…Yet, for myself, it is much more challenging!

I think, however, I am a type 5 (Observer/Investigator) with a 4 wing (Romantic/Individualist).  This also seems to correlate well with my MBTI type of INTP.  

I am new to this system, but so far I've found it very useful and enlightening.

Here are some signs that you are resisting:

• You feel stuck
• You are experiencing mental suffering:  Stress, worry, doubt
• You are scared to do things
• All new input brings up fear
• Your life is disorganized
• You feel guilty
• Things seem to be getting worse, not better
• You're quite sure about what you know, and your beliefs are solid
• You don't like your life, what others are doing, the state of the world
• You frequently numb-out with food, TV or substances

Here are some signs you are transforming:

• You feel joyful, curious, excited
• You enjoy new challenges
• All sorts of new people and opportunities are entering your life
• You are open to new ideas, your beliefs are in flux
• Life seems to be working for you
• You are present in your moments
• You love yourself, your life, the world

In any given moment, you have a choice to be open and engaging with life, or closed.   Allowing transformation, or resisting it.

In truth, you are always being prompted towards change and growth, and it is impossible to actually go backwards, although it can feel that way.  If you resist those transforming forces, however, life will be "hard", you will suffer and there will be a lot of drama.   If you embrace your own transformation, you'll enjoy life, and you'll have more to share with others.

We are self-obsessed creatures, with complex psychological perceptive mechanisms that are virtually incapable of taking in information without filtering it through our own beliefs about ourselves and our world.

So, it IS all personal.  If you've noticed it, it's personal to you in some way.  If it's in your life, it's personal to you in some way.  Yet, and this is what Leonard was getting at, IMHO…You shouldn't take it personally.  That's where so many of us get into trouble.

Yes, things happen.  People say things.  All of it will come to you filtered through your own sense of self, ideas and emotional state.  So, it is all about you.  But don't let it upset you.  It's personal for all of us!  It's not all about you! 

Sound paradoxical?  Understanding this distinction will make the difference between feeling like life is out to get you, or using life as a giant learning opportunity.

There is no-one in the world in a better position to provide that love to you than you.  No-one knows you as well as you.  No-one spends more time with you than you.  No-one knows your heart better than you.

If you can't fully love yourself, how on earth do you expect others to?  You are the one, that is right there in your moments, and has the choice to get down on yourself or lift yourself up via the inexhaustible supply of love that is available to us, if we would simply tap in and allow.

The level at which you are able to love yourself will form the set point maximum level you can receive love from others, and give love to others.   

How much love do you want to experience?  How much love do you want to give?  It all starts from you and your interaction with yourself.

Actions (goals) are individual creations that build upon themselves.  Often, as you incrementally move towards your goal, you incrementally increase your belief that the desired outcome is actually true.  You are building the goal belief by belief.  How many beliefs do you need to adjust to get where you want to go?

It's a common lament.  They are so negative.  My husband is so negative.  That is so negative.  It's more than just a lament…It is the hallmark of a mental and emotional orientation that keeps you stuck (it is impossible to actually move backwards, but we can approach the state of moving backwards such that we are effectively stuck).

Well, negative and positive are two ends of the same spectrum, so negative and positive all depends on where you are.  And, you are the only person that can be where you are, you are the only person that has any hope of determining what is positive and negative for yourself, and that can be challenging enough.  Presuming to be in another person's shoes and determining what is positive and negative for them is a basically fruitless and often dysfunctional exercise.

For a person mired in depression, anger could be positive.  An outside observer may say, "that anger is so negative", and in a sense they are making a proper discrimination, but only in relationship to themselves.  Something may be negative in comparison to where you are, but it is about you not them…You chose to focus on the aspect of their experience that is negative in relation to you.  In fact, that person may put much less emphasis on that aspect of their experience than you want to place upon it. 

I'll also point out that to feel the need to observe and comment on the negativity of something, is in and of itself a focus on the negative!  I could make that observation of myself right now, in fact!

What would happen if you regulary observed…They are so positive!  My husband is so positive!  That is so positive!  And meant it?  What if you found the things that were positive in any person and any scenario?  What would that say about your orientation and expectations?  Would that make you more or less likely to behave and exist in the manner you wish to?  How might that change the way you judge yourself and your own life?

There is a way to focus on the positive, no matter what your observation point, whether from self, or from the viewpoint of others (which is in fact, a view of self disguised in the garb of "others").

How do you know if you are focusing on the positive?  It's easy.  It feels better.