Why do I write? Is it with the goal of becoming published? Why do I meditate? Is it to enter an enlightened state?

Am I doing these activities for the sake of fulfilling certain expectations, or am I doing them for the opportunity to experience the joy of putting words to paper, or to enjoy the calm and inherent stillness available to me each time I sit?

Experience has taught me that the drive to fulfill certain expectations undoubtedly puts a damper on any creations—be they tangible or not. Therefore, stopping to ask myself what feels right to me has become a practice.

Because when I make an intention to remain open and be present with whatever happens in the moment—detached from a specific outcome and the discomfort that comes along with that—I have an easier time experiencing the joy available to me in the here and now, and I’m no longer caught up with the results of a non-existent future.

Expectations have a way of hurting us regardless of the outcome. If I expect things to go a certain way and it fails, then I feel justified descending into cringeworthy states of disappointment or defeat.

If I expect things to go a certain way and I am successful, then my attachment to specific results is further fed by this win and will continue with other pursuits until one day, my expectations are not met and the sudden, crushing blow is felt even more deeply under the weight of previous successes.

This, of course, is inevitable. Even the most prolific writer, all-star athlete, or accomplished professional experiences the pain of having their expectations dashed.

Worse yet, when we place all our energy onto expectations, we can freeze ourselves in place. We deny our passion—our love for doing the thing—because we have created expectations that seem too unwieldly and undoable.

The pressure we have put on ourselves is both unrealistic and unfair, closing out on opportunities for joy, growth, and expansion. It is hard to fathom the number of passionate pursuits that never gain wings because expectations have kept them grounded.

In each of these situations, what was forgotten was the simple joy one can experience while engaging in these activities, along with the opportunity to allow the mystery of creation to unfold naturally and without unneeded pressure.

My advice? Gently put aside your expectations, and everything will feel just right, like your favorite pair of jeans or an old school sweatshirt. You will feel comfortable with any outcome, because nothing is ultimately “good” or “bad”—it simply is.

Creating for creating’s sake becomes the name of the game, and it is one you get to experience over and over, living in a space of freedom and expansion, delighted by the surprises that uncertainty and pure enjoyment deliver.

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They are not warm and congenial loved ones looking to share pleasant life stories with me and pass the afternoon with coffee or tea. They are solicitors, and solicitors want something. They want to make a sale, proselytize, or garner support. They are trying to get my attention.

My dad treated solicitors like a friend calling to check in on him. He would open the door with a smile and allow them to speak freely. He never interrupted a sales pitch, a cry for his salvation, or a politician’s impassioned monologue. He always gave them time and he always kept an open mind.

We learned that those in the local Jehovah Witness chapter would bring their young recruits to our front porch because they knew my dad would never close the door on them. Pops didn’t plan on subscribing to their faith. He wasn’t going to vote for the pushy politician. And he certainly wasn’t going to spend his hard-earned money on anyone’s fancy but needless product.

Each time they called was unexpected, but he always welcomed them with an open heart.

“It doesn’t cost anything to be nice,” Dad always said to me. The handling of these interactions was light and non-transactional. Someone came to his door, and he met them with kindness. Simple as that. No pushing away, ignoring, or denying.

I could take a cue from my dad when it comes to not only external solicitors at my door (greeting them with an authentic smile, offering them my time and energy) but those internal visitors as well—the unwelcome, unpleasant emotions that I initially want to run and hide from. The visitors that Sufi poet Rumi suggests we should welcome and entertain in his famous poem “The Guest House.”

Perhaps if I willingly open my door to outside solicitors and learn to accept them on my welcome mat, no matter how much I want to resist, then maybe I can become more open to the emotions that come calling that are at first blush painful, aggravating, or disheartening.

After all, they are not here to stay, and I don’t need to ask them to move in! Instead, maybe I can learn a thing or two from these guides from beyond, as Rumi writes. By treating each of these callers as guests and not pests, I can learn more about myself in the process.

Whenever I experience an unpleasant emotion, my first reaction is to shoo it away and post a big DO NOT ENTER sign on my door. It feels like a bee suddenly inserting its stinger into the bottom of my big toe, interrupting a peaceful, barefoot walk in an open field of dandelions.

Zing! Ouch! What the heck was that?! Where did it come from? I don’t know why it’s here, but I want it to go away. This hurts. I just want to feel good!

And then I pause. That sacred, beautiful pause that allows the investigation to begin. Why am I getting wrapped up in this emotion? Why am I allowing it to determine how I feel? What is it here to show me? How can I get comfortable with it and treat it with the same equanimity as other, less bothersome emotions?

Even with my daily meditation practice and countless spiritual readings, I still have a difficult time allowing these painful emotions to surface and ride along with me.

Rumi’s writings are cherished by many, so he must have known what he was talking about. For hundreds of years many have read his beautiful lines and adapted his timeless wisdom to their own lives.

While I believe that what he describes in “The Guest House” is the best way to transmute our painful emotions and return to Love, I must admit I am still at times possessed by a kneejerk reaction to push them away.

I have come to the realization, however, that by pushing the negative emotion away I am only growing it in strength and size. So, as much as my ego fights it, I sit with the emotion and often that means letting the tears flow.

After four decades of this experience of being human, I am still getting used to the fact that my painful tears are not a bad thing. They do not mean that my day is ruined or that I am incapable of handling my emotions. In fact, quite the opposite is true.

Tears represent the kaleidoscope of emotions that you are willing to feel and embrace because, as Rumi reminds us, we need to be present for them all!

Do I meet these emotions at the door laughing, as Rumi suggests? No. I still have an initial reaction of fear and unease. And, because of my conditioning, my body and brain still crave distraction as a quick release from these uncomfortable emotions.

Fortunately, mindfulness training has given me the advantage of noticing first, and my free will allows me to decide which path I want to take.

The wise path, which I now have come to understand, is being with whatever arises. Wisdom has taught me that no distraction—food, a podcast, TV, my phone, a busy to-do list—will be the answer to what has come calling. Instead, I need to roll out the welcome mat and say, “Hello! Welcome. I see you there. Let’s sit down and have a chat.”

Each visitor comes to you as a guide from beyond. They appear to tell you something. Will you invite them in?

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I love this quote for its ability to pack a punch succinctly, but its message did not hit home until I recently watched a documentary called Awake in the Darkness.

The film follows a man named Aubrey Marcus who traveled to Europe to engage in a darkness retreat. Two pieces of wisdom emerged during Aubrey’s time in total darkness. The first was to Tell the Truth (good advice, I think, for all of us), and the other was to Love What Is. That’s it. Simply: Love What Is.

These three words appear in a large white font across a black screen, and then the film immediately cuts to images taken from our beautiful, messy planet, all with the word Love emblazoned over top of them: spectacular scenes in nature, death and disease, verbal arguments, garbage dumps, highway traffic, famine, pollution, a baby in tears, and a bird soaring majestically over a clifftop.

A symbolic representation of everything we witness in our lives, each breathtaking shot is narrated by Aubrey repeating the words, “I Love What Is.” The message becomes clear—to Love What Is, whether we define “it” as dismal or cheerful, ugly or pretty, painful or pleasurable.

What is being asked of us, in a very real way, is to surrender to Love. After all, Love is a force greater than any in this Universe and the sooner we allow it in, the lighter we all will feel. This means letting go of our cursory judgments and opinions and simply Loving what’s right there in front of us.

When we fall in Love with “it” as it already is, our entire world changes. How is this possible? By the very power of Love itself! When we make the decision to Love, which includes both that which is easy and that which is not so easy, we become warriors of Love—fearless in our pursuit to bring it into being in every pore and pocket of our lives.

Love What Is.

Come with me on an imaginary journey. Picture yourself standing before an area of blight in your neighborhood, whether that is the local dump, a neighbor’s backyard mess, or an abandoned building long since condemned.

Now imagine yourself feeling negative energy around the situation: you may roll your eyes, you may make an unkind remark, or you may simply allow thoughts of disapproval or disgust to enter your mind. Each of these reactions, friends, is unloving.

You may think that a negative reaction is the result of how something looks or smells or feels to you, but what if I told you it had to do with your split-second decision to make the object of your reaction “bad” and to “other” it?

How does this kind of labeling make you feel? Do you feel you are more connected to or more separated from this object or situation? Do you believe you are more or less in a place of Love?

The knee-jerk reactions we experience with unpleasant things in our environment come like second nature to us because we were taught to respond this way.

Through the various channels of socialization, parenting, forms of role modeling, education, mainstream media, and our occupations, we learned that blemishes are unlovable—whether in the form of childhood scars or acne, Cs and Ds on a report card, a poor performance evaluation, or a piece of garbage lying on the side of the road.

We were taught that withholding Love would prompt change. This meant that our crooked nose, least favorite subject, or jalopy that our mom drove us to school in would get no manner of Love or affection from us.

We blamed the resulting heaviness, restriction, and unsettling emotions on the thing, when it was never to blame. It stood by patiently waiting for our Love so that real transformation could begin.

Love What Is.

Now take a moment to imagine something different. Imagine yourself putting forth the energy of Love into something in your life that may be called a blemish. It could be a messy office, a relationship that needs work, or extra pounds on your frame.

Start by taking time to really notice it: pay attention to it tenderly and refrain from offering any negative commentary. Summon forth your deepest regard for whatever this might be, imagining that maybe, just maybe, your Loving energy is just the thing it needs.

And then, watch what happens.

Everything around you begins to soften. The negative energy which once surrounded this thing is now removed, and so is the heaviness that comes along with it. Lighter and more expansive, you’ve created room for both you and the object to “breathe.” You’re allowing this thing to be exactly as it is—pure, natural Love, which is just what you are.

Love appears in open spaces, not constrictive or binding places. Real and lasting change only can occur when we decide not to beat down, ignore, or belittle but to offer up our real, authentic Love to even that which may seem difficult.

Perhaps most importantly, Love is letting go of our need to change, and when we do that everything changes. Through its mysterious and unknowable nature, Love gives strength to and allows all things to transform into something healed and whole.

Love’s abilities are vast and not easily understood by us down here in the jungles of time and space. It’s best to leave that to the Universe. What we can know, however, is that Loving all things exactly as they are is the beginning to a beautiful opening into real and unrestrictive change.

Our conditioning may have our brains telling us that this is counterintuitive, but I’ve tried the old way for decades now and Love, I’m learning through my own experimentation, is the only thing that works.

The post Love What Is appeared first on TUT.

Heightened materialism during the season is the ego’s response to the increased spiritual energy on the planet. Rather than surrender to love, the ego tries to distract us from Spirit by dangling gold before us. But the real gold is within. You are the gold, and the game is to find the gold in your brothers and sisters.

Caught in a race to out-shop each other, out-gift each other, and outdo last year’s holiday, our minds are in a trance of shopping, buying, wrapping, and gift giving.

This trance of being lost in our conditioned minds—which is when our ego is given center stage—turns a time of spiritual reflection and shared love into a blind obligation driven by needs that don’t correspond with the innermost yearnings of our higher selves.

Since this is not the way we are naturally inclined to think or feel, a holiday meant for peace becomes a time of heightened stress in our minds and bodies and a lack of peaceful presence in our hearts. Our egos have once again distracted us from the real gold.

Wayne Dyer once said that the ego only edges God out. Ego serves a functional purpose in our early development so that we may better understand ourselves and the world around us, but once this goal is attained, it is best to pay close attention to when and under what conditions our ego surfaces so that we do not become controlled by it.

If we repeatedly ignore our ego, it can easily slip into the driver’s seat, where it then places emphasis on separation versus inclusion, competition versus cooperation, and, as we see each holiday season, massive, unconscious accruing versus awake, openhearted sharing.

Once the ego has taken the wheel, God’s presence takes a back seat until eventually we can no longer feel him riding in the car.

With the bombardment of advertisements distracting us on each screen we own, some days the pull is strong, and it just feels easier to follow the crowd. This becomes especially true around the holidays.

These ego-feeding machines know just when to crank it up several notches, and this seems to make it more difficult each year to ignore the dangling “gold,” especially when we must now grapple with the one-click purchasing power that effectively removes all friction.

Regardless of how we got to this place of rapid and unconscious purchasing, the challenge set before us is to awaken to our inner beings, put our egos in check, and remember where the real gold can be found.

Sometimes it happens unexpectedly—a sudden, life-altering wake-up call like the fictional character George Bailey from It’s a Wonderful Life or Ebenezer Scrooge in a A Christmas Carol. More often, however, these slow and incremental changes come about over time.

We might find ourselves learning about a local family receiving help from a charity in our area, or we may notice that the woman ahead of us in line is counting the change in her purse while at the same time carefully eyeing the number of items in her shopping cart.

This may prompt us to do something unexpected and use part of our holiday bonus to help a family in need or a stranger who just wishes to leave the store with her dignity and everything in her cart.

Without consciousness, none of this happens. We must be in a place of awake and fully alive awareness.

However, most of us unknowingly fall in and out of consciousness every day, and this is precisely why this is a challenge. Feeling tired, overwhelmed, under the weather, or consumed by stress, we fall short of the ability that each of us possess to operate from our higher selves in a state of pure loving awareness.

Managing our health and well-being alongside a dedicated self-care practice is instrumental to our spiritual livelihood and thus, our ability to see the real gold.

When we are no longer attached to our ego’s drive to tune out the spiritual underpinnings of the season, we seek a holiday that heightens our joy and innately calls us to be a more loving and open presence.

One that pays attention to others and not just those on our shopping lists. One that makes time for stillness and not continuous moments of holiday frenzy. One that allows us to become closer to the spirit that shines brighter during the season, yearning for a chance to become recognized and lovingly adored.

Earlier this week I had a doctor’s appointment. As I waited my turn to be called back, a woman exited the exam area, smiled at all of us in the waiting room and said, “I hope everyone has a blessed holiday. Merry Christmas to you all.”

Too busy to take in this sudden and unexpected act of love and kindness, I was barely able to blurt out the words “Merry Christmas!” before she walked out the front door. It took me several minutes to realize that I had just seen the gold in my sister.

The new iPhone 15 might glow, but it is not gold. The diamond necklace might glitter, but it too is not gold. These eye-catching trinkets and latest technologies that promise to give us more dopamine, more self-worth, and greater satisfaction will ultimately leave us dissatisfied.

This is precisely because our inner selves long for and deserve more. You and I are the real gold. When we slow down and become fully present, paying close attention to one another and not our phones or shopping lists, we embody the Christmas Spirit and feel the gold shining forth in ourselves and each other.

The post How to Find the True Gold of the Season appeared first on TUT.

“Brush your teeth!” your mind says, and before you know it, you’re picking up your toothbrush and polishing those pearly whites.

“The laundry tub is stuffed full, guess you know what that means!” your mind says (adding a chuckle no doubt), and with a sigh and a groan you’re lugging—or in some cases pushing—the overstuffed tub to the washer.

This is the sort of critical thinking necessary to survive as a human. Of course, we could try to buck the system by resisting brushing our teeth or washing our clothes, but sooner or later our tribe would kick us out of the circle because we stink, not unlike the practices done in caveman days. Everyone plays a part, and certain written and unwritten cultural mores must be followed.

We think and we do, we think and we do. Chores. To-do lists. Things that have become habit, and things we’d rather avoid. Side note: Anyone want to do my taxes?

Being and perceiving, on the other hand, is something different.When we simply take the time to sit and be in the moment, we begin to perceive the truth that exists right in front of us. Perceiving is not thinking. It is your higher self, which is connected to Source and acts from a place of clarity and wisdom. It is consciousness. It is the present moment allowing us to unfold the package of the here and now.

Being and perceiving acts with nature’s Source energy and speaks with an intelligence that can best be described as flowing and easeful. The power of this energy cannot be mistaken, but it never pushes that power onto others. It has nothing to prove. It is never in a rush to make its mark or complete a checklist or soothe someone’s ego. It is timeless, formless, and spacious.

As I’ve heard some practitioners remark during guided meditations, “There is nothing to do and nowhere to go. Just be.” We think we have to work to get there, wherever there is. However, by being and perceiving you become connected to Source energy and this allows you to discern what is Truth and what is illusion in our daily lives.

It also opens you up to Divine wisdom, to allow you to make decisions from a place of knowing. Our brains are simply not cut out for being and perceiving. They are too lost in thought! 

How many of us spend any part of our day in a state of being and perceiving? It takes a level of intention and awareness that many people don’t give time or attention to.

Most are of the belief that as long as they can think and do, the world will continue to spin on its axis and all manner of things will be well. Lawns get mowed, the arm of the factory motor continues to crank out widgets, and the stoplights continue to blink red, yellow, and green.

But what price does our world pay without consciousness? Yes, the mail gets delivered and we continue to work, travel, and keep our appointments as this blue and green ball spins away. But if we are asleep, what is getting missed along the way? What beautiful moments and life truths are left undiscovered?

What if more of us took a few moments each day to curb our thinking and doing? What if we took the time to be in a state of being and to perceive the world outside of its to-do lists? What amount of wisdom would we gain, and how might this world change as a result?

“With your mind stilled, the infinite being that you are, who knows everything, is in charge.”
—Unknown

The post Being and Perceiving: How to Connect to Source and Discern Truth appeared first on TUT.

It’s such a common trap we fall in to. What is trending right now? What can I do that will grab the most pairs of eyes? If what I like to perform/create/write is no longer popular, then what can I do to make it more appealing?

Spirit begs us to ignore this trap, because it moves us farther away from who we truly are, which is our authentic selves. Your authentic self isn’t interested in being in tune with what is happening in popular culture. Your authentic self is connected to the Universe, and the Universe only cares about each one of us having the experience that feels most aligned with who we are.

When the craving and striving self comes center stage to your craft, remember this is your ego in charge: it doesn’t care how you feel and what lights you up; the ego only cares about likes, fans, and being adored. The Universe is already your biggest fan, and believe me when I tell you—you are adored.

If it doesn’t feel right, it isn’t. If you find yourself writing to a specific audience, which doesn’t feel like your own prose, you’ve missed the mark. If you find that your personal creations are trying to meet the latest trend but leave you feeling disingenuous, it’s important to do some mental reframing.

While at face value it may seem like only a subtle shift in preferences towards something more culturally desirable, this can be a slippery slope. The farther we travel down the harder it becomes to climb up and out.

As soon as we try to inspire other people, or try to say what we think others want to hear or be who we think they want us to be, then we are no longer being authentic. We are coming from the head and not the heart. When we come from the heart instead, we allow the message to come through us, rather than from us.
—Anita Moorjani

Escaping this trap and returning to our true selves can be done. And it happens by making a shift from the external to the internal. From the world outside to the world inside ourselves. When we make this important shift we can then find the light glowing inside of us and begin to fan that flame.

Starting the process of returning to ourselves can be done with five simple words: What feels good to me?

What feels good to you is the result of being aligned and acting from your higher self. You are touching your true nature, and any interest in having followers begins to fade. You feel lighter and more at ease in this world. More relaxed. Less anxious. You experience a feeling of pure enjoyment in your craft.

Some of us don’t know what feels good. We’ve been living covered under heavy drapes with no peep holes, keeping ourselves out of the light of true discovery and awareness due to fear or trauma, or losing ourselves somewhere along the way to the wants and popularity of media culture and forgetting who we were and what we once truly enjoyed.

If this is you then here’s the fun part: start saying YES to trying things on. While it may seem scary, the truth is that in the process of discovering what makes your heart sing the Universe is loving and supporting you every step of the way.

What is something you’ve been thinking about trying? Go ahead and try it! The Universe will applaud your efforts. Picture a crowd of adoring fans cheering your success each time you find something that lights you up! Remember, they don’t care about what is popular. They only want you to feel joy. Once you find those things that light you up, prepare to feel delighted!

Not sure what to try? Here are some ideas:

• Get Artsy: painting, drawing, crochet, pottery, calligraphy, art journaling, floral design
• Just Write: gratitude journaling, poetry, fiction writing, spoken word event
• Child’s Play: bike rides, running through sprinklers, hopscotch, look for tadpoles, cloud gazing
• Be in Nature: walking meditation, forest bath, grounding/earthing, city park visit, birding
• Explore New Hobbies: geocaching, herb gardening, dance class, book club, karaoke
• Get Educated: online or in person courses on any topics that spark your interest (many are free)
• Volunteer: animal shelter, school tutoring, food kitchen, clothing pantry, park cleanup

My experience with this exploration allowed me to see what creative pursuits aligned best with my authentic self. The more I discovered that which brought me joy, the more I began to know the self that exists independent of the latest trends. Creative ideas bubbled to the surface and delighted me in ways I never expected.

We don’t know which way our interests will ultimately lead, but the most important thing is that we like to do them and as a result we feel good while doing them.

Ultimately please know that not everything you create in this world will be liked, welcomed, or well received. This is OK! We were created to have different tastes and interests. What lights you up may not light up the next person.

Ricky Nelson once sang, “You see, you can’t please everyone so you got to please yourself.” Follow your intuition and do only those things that you enjoy. Be who you are, and trust that the Universe will reward you for your authenticity. Return to you, and you won’t be disappointed. There is no replacement for living as your authentic self.

The post How to Rediscover Your Authentic Self through Joyful Pursuits appeared first on TUT.

Many of us, however, only know it as sympathetic joy, and few allow it to become a key part of their joy quotient. This is unfortunate, because it opens us up to countless additional possibilities of experiencing and reveling in the pure, exuberant state of joy.

Before I knew about sympathetic joy I didn’t have a name for the good feelings I experienced when I watched a couple laughing with one another over coffee at the café or witnessed a parent unable to contain a smile when one of their kids did something cute in the grocery store.

I found myself feeling joyful for their joy. Happy for their happiness. Delighted by their delight. Learning further, I eventually understood that I was accessing a part of unity consciousness. Put simply, since we all come from one Divine Source then another’s joy is my joy. How beautiful is that?

Sympathetic joy is what happens when we actually feel happy for the happiness of others. Whether we are watching a child devour an ice cream cone on a hot day or celebrating the success of a friend’s graduation or job promotion, positive emotions surface in ourselves as a result of the good things happening to others.

Sympathetic joy sits there right along with lovingkindness, compassion, and equanimity in the Four Brahmaviharas, a set of Buddhist principles to help you feel interconnection with others. The Four Brahmaviharas are also known as the Four Immeasurables or Boundless Qualities.

Traditionally, sympathetic joy is known as the most difficult to achieve. This is due in part to feeling a sense of lack in our own lives. Jealousy and resentment can arise when we see someone enjoying or acquiring because the ego pipes up and says, “What about me?”

The truth is that their joy isn’t taking anything away from us. Instead, it gives us an opportunity to experience another facet of joy that wants to be acknowledged and celebrated. In sympathetic joy we dive deeper into our connection with others and allow a beloved sharing to take place.

The act of gratitude, I’ve learned, helps a long way toward having more experiences of sympathetic joy. When we frequently take stock of what we have, we don’t look at someone’s happiness or good fortune with a feeling of scarcity or deprivation.

I guess you could say I have become naturally primed for sympathetic joy because my longstanding gratitude practice has given me hundreds of reasons to feel contented in my day-to-day life. Knowing that we have enough means that we don’t have a sense of lack for anything, and this leads to sincere feelings of sympathetic joy for strangers and friends alike.

I have been blessed to experience sympathetic joys both big and small. One that stands out prominently for me took place last October. I was recovering from a recent foot surgery when my husband and I decided to see the fall colors a few hours north of our home. At that time my walking was still limited and I was using a cane for assistance.

During our weekend adventure, we stopped at a roadside park that was at the edge of a beautiful beach covered in Petoskey stones. Walking on this beach was going to be impossible for me with its uneven and rocky ground, but I encouraged my husband to venture out and find some geocaches while I took in the scenery from the safety of the parking lot’s edge.

It was unseasonably warm for a fall day in Northern Michigan. The late afternoon peak of sunshine was shining brightly on the water, causing it to sparkle like an array of polished diamonds bestowed by Mother Nature. Moments after being mesmerized by this natural delight I spotted a young couple with two small children.

Dad and baby were cautiously entering the water to meet mom and toddler several feet from the shore. Each of them had smiles on their faces. Once the family united as four and the sun shone vibrantly on their union, it became a moment that appeared frozen in time. It filled me with awe and left me breathless. An overwhelming feeling of gratitude filled every cell of my body.  

I wasn’t able to have their experience. I couldn’t physically walk along the beach let alone play in the water and search for the Petoskey stones this beach was famous for. But I absolutely fell in love with and delighted in the moment they were having. Instead of feeling sorry for myself, I was completely immersed in the joy of their experience.

This beautiful memory will continue to remind me that there is nothing small or secondary about sympathetic joy. It is not a consolation prize in the game of achieving life’s happiness and should not be treated as such.

In moments of sympathetic joy you are experiencing both your own joy and the joy that others are having as well. What could be small about that? It’s double the joy and a wink from the Universe on recognizing our shared connection in love and delight.  

The post Double Your Delight with Sympathetic Joy appeared first on TUT.

Affirmations, as some are led to believe, are not silly or trite. Repeating them does not involve putting on rose-colored glasses and blindly forgetting the pain and heartbreak of society. It is not telling lies to yourself or having hope where situations may appear hopeless.

An affirmation practice is instead an act of courage. An act of putting forth your higher truth, which you may or may not yet realize on a conscious level. It is daring to express yourself in the Light of Divine Love, which already knows all of the beautiful words you have for yourself—but loves hearing you repeat them!

A few years ago I was introduced to the late Louise Hay from Heather K. Jones. Each of Louise’s books and teachings stress the importance of affirmations, and in her large library of work she gives lots of examples. Like many people, I felt that affirmations were a bit silly at first. I was hesitant to read them with any intention and I certainly did not want to say them aloud!

Over time, however, my feelings changed. Once I became a more experienced meditator and learned the power of inner stillness, I gently added in an affirmation or two near the end of my meditation. If meditation music was playing, this amplified the power of my affirmation.

The more I practiced, the better I became with affirmations. And the better I became with affirmations, the more I believed in their capacity to turn us into our own personal superheroes.

I haven’t been in the affirmation game long. Two to three years at most. But what I lack in the number of practice years I make up for in the depth of my practice. Affirmations are now part of my daily routine.

My favorites are memorized and deeply grooved into my neural patterning. My time in meditation is longer and more deeply felt because of my affirmations. My peaceful meditative state comes alive in my body once I begin repeating words of affirmation.

My head, my hands, and other parts of my body “light up,” as they say. I have heard this described as activating my higher vibration. From here my higher self is recognized and each of these beautiful affirmations of love, tranquility, health, and well-being are welcomed with open arms.

Here are just a few of the affirmations I repeat daily:

• Today is a beautiful day—I choose to make it so.
• I am carefree, light, and in a state of love and relaxation.
• I am healthier than I have ever been. My body is always returning back to its state of natural health.
• I am my own unique self, and today I choose thoughts that are peaceful, loving, and joyous.
• I have all the time in the world. Time is exactly what I make it to be. When I see the perfection of each experience, I am never rushed nor delayed.
• I am Divinely protected and guided.
• Life loves me. Loving myself is the key to letting life love me.

Affirmations are as personal as those who engage with them. My favorites have frequently come from Louise Hay but with modifications based on my preferences. One of the most loving things we can do for ourselves is to affirm using the words that our higher self is calling us to speak.

Everything is allowed! What lights you up is the affirmation for you! Life loves me never fails to give me that warm and tingly feeling.

No matter how my morning begins, I can expect that my spirit will be lifted after repeating my beloved affirmations. While it may only seem like a fleeting uprising of energetic love and harmony, I know and trust that I have set myself on a daily course that includes more peace, more contentment, and more inner joy that sparkles and shines with those whom I encounter.

Go on—use your superpower. It belongs to each of us. No time in the morning? Any moment of the day works. A minute or thirty, a quiet space at home or the drive-thru line at lunchtime. The important thing is to speak kind words to yourself. Speak the words of your true nature.

You are deeply loved by the Universe, and affirmations can help you to remember this fact each day.

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