What To Do When Meditating Goes Awry

The other day I sat down to meditate, as I always do daily.  I closed my eyes and took a few deep breathes.  Relaxed my body, got comfortable, you know the drill.  Usually when I meditate I do have thoughts that make an appearance.  I just brush them aside and try and clear my mind when this happens.

But this day was different.  For some reason, when I tried to quiet my mind, some negative stuff came up.  Memories of an old boss who caused me heaps of stress  (and tears) came flooding in.  There's got to be a reason for this, but I chose not to investigate.  I wasn't interested in going down that route because I didn't want to dwell on a negative experience.  But it's hard to go from feeling anger (which I was starting to brew up at this point) to peace and quiet.

So I decided to take Abraham's advice.  Basically, what Abraham says is that when negative stuff comes up, go general.  Don't try and "wrestle the problem to the ground".  Just go general.

I sat there and said to myself "Go general, Annie, go general."  I distracted myself away from my previous thoughts.  "Go general, go general."  I searched for a general thought that would make me feel better, and the thought that popped into my head was "I'm lucky to be alive."  A small smile appeared on my lips.  Then I went even more general.  "I'm alive."  Whoa!  A rush of good feeling swooped over me, as if I was in a wind tunnel.  What a powerful statement that turned out to be!  Who knew?

I then repeated it to myself, over and over again, and "I'm alive"  became "I'M ALIVE!!!! I'M ALIVE!!! I'M  ALIVE!!!"  All the possibilities and expectations of excitement, exhilaration, fun, adventure and abundance came flooding in, and a quiet meditation session became a "grinning stupidly but lovin' it" session.

So, if you're ever having trouble quieting your mind to meditate, don't beat yourself up.  Just go general.  Think a thought that feels good.  Mine popped into my head (from source, of course) and yours can too. You can try "I'm alive" but if you come up with something that works better for you, then do it.  Just feel good.

Appreciate The Heck Out Of Your Life

Do you ever find yourself wishing that your life was more than it is?   How about comparing your life to that of your next door neighbour?  Feeling envious about their new car, or new kitchen.

Recently I had a conversation with a friend who told me she felt that she was somewhat of a failure.  She graduated from Cambridge University, one of the most prestigious and respected universities in the world, and she was as a teachers' assistant.  She said she looks at her co-workers, who are younger and have achieved more in their career, and feels somewhat less in comparison to them.

I understand this feeling as it's something I have experienced in my life, as I'm sure many people have, but it pained me to see her so down on herself.

Here's what I told her (more or less):

Look at what you do have.  A beautiful, polite, intelligent daughter, a loving husband, a nice home, good health, good friends (we were out for dinner with a large group, so I swept my hand across the room to demonstrate).  You have many things to be proud of, and to appreciate.  Focus on what you do have.  It's a lot more than many others.  Life isn't a race.  It doesn't matter where other people are on the course, or how fast they got there.  Enjoy the journey, and make sure you do the only thing that matters.  Be happy.  If you have happiness, then everything else falls into place.

She looked at me and said "how did you get so smart?"  I said "I've had a lot of good teachers."
(It's true, I read ALOT of self-help books.  Like, obnoxiously ALOT)

What I'm trying to say is, find any excuse to feel happy.  Everyone will have their own reasons.  Quit finding excuses to be unhappy.  Why do we do that?  Appreciate the heck out of your life and the Law of Attraction will take care of you, for as long as you want.

2 Day Challenge: Can You Go Without Complaining?

Thanks to the Law of Attraction we get what we think about, and say about.  Good or bad, the Law of Attraction has a clear set of rules and follows them to the letter.  When you're having fun, positive thoughts, the Law of Attraction sends you more fun, positive thoughts and experiences.  Which is great!  Except......the flip side of this is that when your having a crusty, grumpy, prickly, leave-me-alone moment (or day) the Law of Attraction will send you more of the same crap!

Part of this less-then-ideal situation is complaining.  We all do it.  When something doesn't sit well with us, be it a personal, or even on behalf of someone else, we like to air our grievances.  We bitch, we complain.  What we're really doing is seeking validation from others.  "I deserve to feel this way!  I'm right, aren't I?"  is what we're really saying when we complain. It's our ego asserting itself.  The problem with that is that our ego doesn't always do what's best for us.  It just wants to be right, come hell or high water.

But we're not doing ourselves any favour by letting the ego take charge.  If the ego wants to complain, and if the Law of Attraction brings you more of what you're putting out there, then the ego has to be stopped!

Therefore, I have a 2 day challenge for you.

Day 1:  Don't complain, bitch, moan, sulk, or whine out loud to anyone, anywhere on any topic.  Don't say a single negative thing about anything and anyone, ALL DAY.  It's a toughie.  Even as I write this I wonder if I'll be able to do this, but I'm sure as shootin' gonna try.

Day 2:  Even tougher.  Don't complain, bitch, moan, sulk or whine to yourself, mentally about anyone, or anything ALL DAY.  Whoa!  Here's a little leeway:  If you do catch yourself doing this, then get off topic as fast as you can.  Distract yourself, busy yourself, read a book, listen to some music, meditate, you get the picture.

Our mother's advice "If you haven't got anything nice to say, don't say anything at all" was genius.  Mother's do know best!  Try it for a couple days and let me know how it went.  Was it hard, or easy for you to do?  Did you see any tangible beneficial results?  I'd love to know, but won't complain if you don't tell me :-)

Why You Need To Know Your Own Goals

About 10 years ago a good friend of mine asked me, out of the blue : "What's your 5 year plan?"  I looked at him with a raised eyebrow and said "huh?"  His question completely baffled me.  Not just the question itself, but the fact that it clearly showed that he had a 5 year plan!

When did I start hanging out with people who had goals, plans, ambitions?  At the time all my friends were doing the same 9 to 5 thing, living day to day, playing the cards that life dealt them.  Or so I thought.  I told my friend that I didn't have a 5 year plan (and to be honest, I said it super skeptically, to make him feel silly for even asking).  But he persevered.  "Don't you think you should?" he asked. I'd never seen him so serious before.  "Well what's yours?"  I challenged.

And then he proceeded to tell me his 5 year plan, year by year.  It took him about ten minutes to get through it all and the enthusiasm and excitement with which he told it both amazed and impressed me.  I felt proud of him!

                                                                   

I went home that night and started to think, is that what people do?  Have plans years in advance?  Oh, how naive I was.  I look back at that conversation as a starting point for how my life was going to change.  This is where it all started.  Slowly, quietly, but insistently.

I'm willing to bet if you ask most people what their 5 year (or 1 or 2 year) plan is, they'll react much the same as I did 10 years ago.  Most people don't take the time to plot out their own life.  They don't realize they have the power to do so.

But we know better don't we?  Once I realized that I do have the power to plot out my own life, I started to make plans.  I started to have goals.  They change/evolve/modify over time, but that's okay, that just means I've either reached my goals, or thought of something better.

I have my goals written down and every morning I look at them.  I go through each one and spend a few minutes visualizing them.  It takes about 10 minutes  Every time I reach a goal, I write out a new list.

Planning, expecting and visualizing your ideal life is the best way to ensure you get it.  Write down your goals, today.  It doesn't matter if they are vague.  Tomorrow you'll think of something clearer and more defined.  You're allowed to change your goals.  Fine tune them until they get specific.  Visualize them, and make sure when you do, that it feels good.  If you're goal is to become CEO of your company but all you can see is the stress and time away from your family, then that's not gonna be an easy goal for you to attain.  If it feels great however, then you're taken a very important and powerful first step.

Don't be worried what people think.  You don't have to tell a soul what you've written down.  In fact, if you're surrounded by energy vampires (usually well-meaning family members) then it's best to keep them on the down low.

Do you have a 5 year plan?  Or 1 or 2?  If so, I'd love to hear about it.  Go on, inspire me!

Why The Law of Attraction Isn't Working For You and How To Fix It

Do you ever find yourself in a law of attraction conundrum?  In other words, do you want to believe, and does it make total sense to you, yet at the same time you're looking around at your surroundings and saying "where's all that money I keep visualizing?  Where's the mansion I want to live in?  Where's that hot boy/girlfriend I keep dreaming about?"

Most people get impatient when they are "doing the work" but not getting the results, which in turn, makes you doubt the work, and suddenly you've dug yourself a hole and find yourself looking up shouting in frustration "WHERE'S MY STUFF???"""

It becomes a vicious circle which is hard to break free from.


When you find yourself living in frustration, but still wanting to believe in the law of attraction then there's still hope.  You need to look at how you are feeling.  I mean really get honest with your feelings on certain subject.  When you wish for more money are you truly feeling good about that wish?  Does it make your heart sing?  Or does it remind you of you lack of money?  When you're wishing for the perfect mate does it make you feel good, or does it make you feel lonely?  These are the questions that you have to ask yourself.

It sounds simple:  Does it make me feel good or not?  But often we sabotage ourselves by ignoring the emotions that go along with the visualization.  You may think you want a certain thing, but your emotions are telling you that you are focused on the absence of that thing.  This is why so many people get frustrated with the law of attraction and sometimes throw in the towel.

Pay attention to how you feel.  If a certain subject makes you feel bad, then stay away from that subject.  For many people that subject is money.  If money makes you feel bad, then stop trying to visualize yourself with more.  You'll only be emphasizing the absence of it, and in the process shoot yourself in the foot.

As Abraham says, go general.  Think about something that isn't so touchy.  Look out into your garden and appreciate the beautiful flowers in it.  Turn on a piece of music you love and dance your ass off.  Read a fascinating book.  Distract yourself from that which makes you feel bad.  Get your mood lifted and raise the vibrations you are emitting.  Feel good!  It doesn't matter what the subject is.  Real basic rule coming up:  If it feels good, if it puts a smile on your face and makes your heart sing, DO IT!  THINK IT!  FOCUS ON IT! DWELL ON IT!  SWIM IN IT!  Sorry for shouting, but sometimes it's the only way to get heard.

What To Do When Someone Doesn't Believe in Law of Attraction

Do you know someone who thinks the law of attraction is just a bunch of "airy-fairy" hoo-haw?  I bet you do.  Recently I attended a seminar on sales, which was very good, by the way, but the presenter made a few disparaging remarks about those who believe in the law of attraction.  He told us to throw out books like "The Secret" or "Cosmic Ordering".  Actually, he said it a few times throughout the afternoon. The irony was that many of the techniques and lessons he was teaching us, are actually taught in these books!

As a die-hard law of attraction believer, follower, and practitioner, I of course, didn't agree with his opinions.     That's okay.  I wasn't insulted or offended.  Everyone is entitled to their own opinion and I firmly believe that you cannot "convert" someone who doesn't want to believe.  I don't think it's my job to do so, and if someone disagrees with my beliefs, then I give them the same amount of respect I think they should give me regarding my beliefs.  In fact, I probably give them way more respect than they give me!

I don't feel sorry for them, either.  Even though I think I've found the golden ticket in the law of attraction and all the excellent teachings out there, I don't spend any vibrational energy feeling pity for people who continue to plod along in life and believe that struggle is just a part of life, that there's nothing they can do about it.  To feel sorry for them would lower my vibrational output and that's the last thing I want to do.  Instead, I choose the other end of the stick and feel appreciation for having come across this knowledge.  I thank God (or source, or the universe, or any higher being) every day that I came across the law of attraction and all that it has taught me.  I feel like I've discovered the land of Narnia. What a privilege!  Do you know how few of us there are???  We're the lucky ones.

Appreciation is one of the most important and beneficial emotions you can feel.  Don't worry what others are thinking, or believing.  Don't even worry if they are snickering behind your back.  Believe what feels right.  Believe what makes you feel good.  And appreciate that you are one of the lucky few who have discovered what this magical universe and you are truly capable of. 

Writer's Block? Try Meditation

If you're a writer, or an aspiring writer, then you probably know how this guy feels  ==================>

Completely stuck, no idea where to go, no ideas popping up and the incessant glare of the blank page.

It can be completely frustrating especially if you know you've got something to say.

Whenever I find myself in this situation, which is pretty regularly, by the way, I step away from the page (or the laptop) and close my eyes.

This is where things get a bit mystical, but if you're on my blog, then you've already swallowed the red pill.  I write about Law of Attraction and am a certified practitioner of it, so I take an LOA approach to writer's block.  Simply put, I meditate.

I already meditate daily anyway, but when I'm experiencing writer's block, I meditate with the intention to clear it.  I close my eyes and call on my higher source to fill me with inspiration.  I sit quietly with the knowledge and the faith that the universe will "pop" an idea into my head.   And guess what?   It always works.  ALWAYS!  Without fail.  In fact, some days I sit with my laptop in front of me, close my eyes, and start to write.  The ideas simply start to flow.

The trick is to have faith in the process, and to let the idea come to you.  Not the other way around. Scouring your brain for an idea isn't how this process works.  I'm not saying don't go out and look for an idea.  That works too.  But if you want to simplify things and let the universe do the heavy lifting, then meditate for a few minutes and see what it brings you.

I'd be curious if anyone else out there tries this process.  Please let me know if it works for you too!