Much has been written about how to take care of yourself. There are ways to take care of yourself mentally, emotionally, physically, spiritually and over all self-care. All of these things are vital to your development and for getting into the vibration that attracts positive results in your life.

You see when you are on the road of creating a life that you want, a life you are proud of, a life that attracts joy and creates more positivity around the world, you have to be selfish. That's right, I said be selfish. Now, many of us have grown up with the word "selfish" being a negative word. The word selfish usually comes up to make someone feel bad, or we have a judgment against them. We say that they are selfish people. Because in that connotation they only think of themselves.

We are taught an early age that selfish is bad and to be self less is good. To be selfless and never think about ourselves is the highest attainment of spiritual and moral values. If we are selfless completely then we somehow rise to the level of sainthood. Well, I'm here to tell you that that is not true.

Most of the Dalai Lama's, Jesus Christs, Buddhas, Mother Teresa's Mohammed's etc. who have walked this earth changing peoples lives and helping people are not selfish. They have extreme self-respect and they cared for themselves greatly. If they did not care for themselves greatly and do the things that show that they care for themselves greatly, they would not be able to help others to level which they did and do.

It is exactly like when you are on a plane. They always tell you to put your oxygen mask on first before giving it to your children. If you run out of oxygen you will never be able to help your children. It is the exact same thing when it comes to creating a self-care regime or a self-care ritual for yourself. You got to do it for yourself first so that you can show up into the world and for other people in a much more powerful and grounded manner.

From now on I want you to think of selfish as "self care". Create a self-care routine for yourself that you do on a daily basis. I believe that once you do this and stick with it consistently, your vibration shifts towards the positive and it affects every area of your life. It affects your relationships. It affects your career. It affects your finances. And of course it affects the most important relationship you have, which is your relationship with yourself.

To create a self-care ritual or self-care regime is very easy. First think of the things that make you feel extremely connected, grounded and like yourself. These are things that bring you back to who you are. When you do these things and get positive feelings and good feelings you are better for yourself and better for the world.

Examples of things to include in a self-care routines are as follows: meditation, walking, yoga, artwork, gardening, reading inspirational materials, specific daydreaming, Writing, journaling, exercise of any sort that makes you feel good etc.

If you don't already have a self-care routine I highly recommend it. Actually I don't highly recommend that I would say that it is a requirement is you are serious about having positive results in your life.

Start by choosing to 2-3 things that you will do at least five days a week on a consistent basis. You can always change them as you go along but I would like you to think about what are the top three things that make you feel amazing about yourself that you can do alone with no one else involved.

Pick your three things and do them consistently for 30 days. After the 30 days are done you can reassess and decide if you want to change them up a little bit. The point being your intention is an extreme self-care regime that fills your spirit and in turn fills your life with peace and joy and self love.

Here's to being selfish and all that entails!

Be very careful right now. In light of the recent tragedies, the ego individually and the ego collectively is going crazy.
This is a time when, as we walk through life, we have the opportunity to choose.

The opportunity to be for safety instead of against guns.

The opportunity to be for sanity instead of against insanity.

The opportunity to be for Community instead of against individuals.

The opportunity to be for Peace instead of against anarchy.

The opportunity to be for Divine Perfection instead of against the insanity of the world.

The opportunity to be for change instead of against stagnation.

The opportunity to be for healing instead of against destruction.

The opportunity to for the power of the Divine instead of against the power of man.

The opportunity to be for peaceful, productive action instead of against stagnancy.

The opportunity to be for Love instead of against Fear.

The opportunity to be for Life instead of against Death.

May those who are suffering find peace and love. May those who have made their transition, have the most peaceful and loving transition possible.
Xxx

One of my all-time favorite films in the last few years has been "Under the Tuscan Sun". If you haven't seen it I highly recommend it. If you have seen that you might know the story I'm about to tell. The story is about a woman whose life falls apart, and how she begins to build her life back up in a way that's much more in line with her spirit. This is all set with the beautiful backdrop of Tuscany Italy. What's not to like about this film...?

In the film there are so many life lessons, law of attraction principles and how Angels, human or not guide us through our lives. I am not going to do a review of the film here, because obviously I do not have a subjective opinion. Just see the film.

What I want to illuminate here is one story in the film. The main character moves to Tuscany after a surprising and devastating divorce. When she gets to Italy there is an undercurrent of a need to have a man substantiate her existence. She In fact ends up meeting a man. This relationship never totally works out. And here comes the point I want to make for you. There is a character in the movie who is the wise sage woman. The main character comes to her house one day and sage woman says "what Are you so sad about? Why do you keep thinking about him?" The main character doesn't even really know what she's talking about. The sage woman tells a wonderful story about ladybugs and goes on to say "Go work on your house and forget about it!"

And she does. She takes her strong focus away from getting the man and having the man satisfy her fulfillment of herself. She works diligently on our home and forgets about it. I'm sure that you know what ends up happening. That man never comes back but, another one comes into her life which is completely unexpected. The lesson here is that she let go of her grip that something other than her own satisfaction of her life will fulfill her. Once she did that, she got what she wanted. It wasn't the form in which she thought it should be. In this case the man that she was so focused on, instead she got a better match for herself.

The reason that I tell you the story is to ask yourself what you are gripping on so tight that you want to attract into your life, but you're not giving it room to come in? I know that when I work with clients and for myself that when the grip is so tight on something we think that we want we feel that we have to give it all our attention and focus.

Now this might seem contradictory to some of the law of attraction principles of focusing continuously on what you want. But, hear me very clearly here when focusing on what we want is coming from a place of need, then it possibly will never happen or manifest in our lives. If what you want is a true vibrational match for your highest good and is aligned with your spirit and not your ego, then there is no need to continue focusing on it in an almost desperate way. Just be clear about what it is and feel good about it. Feeling good about it and going about your life, opens up the grip so that there is room for it to manifest in your life.

By the way, I've been telling this story over and over to clients and to people I know. I would repeat this lesson and say the line "Go work on the house and forget about it!" I have said it so many times over the last few months. In that same time I have been in a place of  tightness around my business. I have been holding on with the grip very tight to make my business more successful.

Guess what? I have been vibrating "working on the house and forgetting about it" And because I was putting the vibration out there by saying it over and over, circumstances have worked themselves out that in the last month, I have had to be at my Dads house... I have had to "Work on the house and forget about it!" In my case my forgetting about my business. Guess what again??? My business is opening up and opportunities are presenting themselves that I never even planned!

So, today go work on the house and forget about it!



Watch the scene from the movie here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G7t_gCfTPlM

Newsflash: all the things that are not working in your life, are the things that are going to bring you to the most peace and the most joy and the most love possibly the most success. Now, this seems contradictory to what you may believe or definitely what you want to do. But, I want you to start to think about all the things that are not working or that feel really bad in your life. Common wisdom may say not to look at those things and just keep looking towards what you want to create in your life, in any area of your life. Common wisdom will say if you keep your "Eye on the prize" you will achieve it. And in some ways that is true. Having a clear vision of what you want in any area of your life that will bring you the most joy the most peace or the most success is vitally important. But, what most of us don't realize is that looking at what's not working will get you more clear about where you are going.

It is very common in the self-help and new thought community, to stay positive and only look at what's working. This philosophy encourages walking through the world with a rose-colored glasses on. We know that walking through the world with rose-colored glasses on is not the best way to your goals or your success or your peace. It only encourages the things that you're not looking at come back at some point and slap you in the face. That is why only staying "positive" will only get you so far. The reason that It will only get you so far, is because life will always bring up challenges or things you don't want. That is the nature of living in this three dimensional world. If you ignore or push against those things that you don't like or make you feel bad, you are not really living life. The things that aren't working or that seem to be your problems actually are the things that will help you to get more clear about what you do want and if you stick with it eventually your success.

"How is that?" you say. "How can I look at what's not working, and still be positive?" And here is the answer: by looking at what you don't want or what makes you feel bad very briefly. If you can look at what's not working in your life briefly and constructively it will give you all the clues of what you do want and it will bring you into the vibration of what you do want so you can let go of the negative vibration of the problem. Once again, the keyword here is to look at those things "briefly".

. The most important thing is that you be honest with yourself and see that they're not working and to take those things as a guide post to help you to get more clear about what you do want. Those things you don't want are not problems. They are guideposts which are helping you in every way. If you can start to do this, you will end up being more positive. I guarantee it. Because when you face the things that aren't working and shift them being a block for you, they will become your point of freedom.

If you are new to this way of thinking and being, it will take practice. It will take some diligence on your part to remind yourself that the problem that you have ascribed as a problem, is only there to help you to get to where you really do want.

You might say that this is the basis of making lemonade out of lemons. Let's face it, if you don't even see that there are lemons there you can never make lemonade, right? Think about it, if there were a ton of lemons in front of your door blocking you to get out, and you knew that behind that door was everything that you needed for your life, you would look at those lemons and quickly figure out a way to cut them up, make them smaller and shift them so that you could get out the door, right? You wouldn't, on the other hand sit there and stare at the pile of lemons and fret and wonder and keep looking at them over and over and over again. Your survival instinct would kick in and realize you need to look at these lemons very briefly and shift them so you could get out the door!

This philosophy has been around for a very long time. It is nothing new. But, very few people are in the practice of being able to do this. I want you to be able to do this moment to moment and day today in your life... all the time.

I have all the faith in you, that you will be able to open up a very successful lemonade stand very soon! From then on life will be a bowl of cherries… Or lemons… Haha!

I am sitting in my apartment in New York city right now. It snowed last night and there's a dusting of white on the ground. I am sitting here in awe, reverence and extreme appreciation. You see, last night I arrived back in New York City after an amazingly beautiful and inspirational week in Belize. I had the honor of co teaching an Angelic yoga retreat with two of my very good friends there. Of course I didn't teach the yoga... That would be funny! I taught the angelic part of the retreat. We had an amazing time. This trip exceeded all of our expectations. We were in the rain Forest of Belize for four days. We swam in the waterfalls. We hiked through some of the most beautiful land I've ever seen. We crossed the ocean to go to a very tiny beautiful island that had the most amazing accommodations and had adventures in the ocean. I got to swim in the second largest barrier reef in the world. I swam with sea turtles, saw sharks And even saw a mermaid under the water ( wel...l she is a tattoo on my leg. Haha)

I got to do all this and more with some of the most amazing women that I know. Some people I got to know on the trip while others I have known for a while. Each and every one of them is a blessing in my life. AND I got to do this while doing what I love: teach people that life is so much more then what they might be experiencing right now. In fact, a theme emerged from the retreat that seems so appropriate; "Anything and everything is possible."

This trip was an adventure. This trip was a dream. This trip was beautiful. This trip was inspirational. This trip has added to my life in more ways than I even know right now. Besides all that, doing all these things while I was making a living at the same time!

This was the kind of trip that many people hold in their thoughts very far away from them, thinking "I would love to do something like that, if I only had the money, if I only have the time, if I only… If I only… If I only…"

Is there a part of you that, as you read this is saying "if only…"? Well, I used to be just like you. I used to think or feel "if I only..." I also thought that such trips or having a life where you can do what you love and have adventure and even create more significant connections to yourself and others was something that was out of reach. It was something "other people" did. You know, those people that have a different life. Those people that have money. Those people that had a better education. Those people who…(Fill in the blank) Well, it's nice to meet you, I am now one of "those people ". I have crossed over to the... LIGHT side. And it's the most wonderful place to be. It is a place where I know at a cellular level that anything is possible! It is a place of acceptance, joy, adventure and love. Say "yes" if that place sounds good to you.

Well, all of this could just be a story about another person that was one of "those people" who finally achieved what they dreamed of. But, this story is about you and not me... This is a story about you and how you are writing your life with every thought and every action you take in your life.

I titled this "How I got to Belize" because really how I got to Belize was that I took responsibility and accepted that I am the creator of my life. I finally, after many years of study and practice decided in the last year that it was time... It was time to be more consistent with my thoughts. It was time to be more consistent with my actions. It was time to know and allow the true goodness of life to flow through me and not only through "other people". I truly decided that "anything and everything was possible".

By doing this my vibration changed. By doing this my vibration raised. By doing this the universe matched my vibration. I literally have trained myself to let go of anything that felt bad in my vibration. Now that I am truly consistent with doing this, the results are showing up in my life in so many ways that it's almost impossible to write them all down.

As they say, "Everything is an inner journey." And it is more true than you might know right now. But I stand in your consciousness as you read this, as I shining example of how the inner journey will change your outer results.

You can get to Belize or anywhere that you decide you want to go. If you're willing to do the work and walk the walk of a mystical traveler through your life. When I say "work", I want you to know that the "work" doesn't have to be hard. It just has to be consistent. If you can change your mind about that, that is one of the first steps. Be consistent in always turning towards what you DO want and letting go of what you DON'T want. Over and over and over and over and over again. Every time that you change your mind towards something that you DO, want, you create a new vibration and that is literally "How you get to Belize".

As usual, I'm sending you all my love and preparing for a future post that will be entitled "How I got to Bali" ;)

XXX

One of my favorite quotes and I think one of the most effective principles in getting positive results in your life is this: "It is in our defenselessness that your safety lies" That is from A Course in Miracles.

The concept of defenselessness is something that is foreign to many people. It is foreign because we have been trained by the world and by the ego to always defend. Defend ourselves. Defend family. Defend our opinion. Defend our country. Defend our friends. Defend. Defend. Defend...

If you truly want to have peace in your life and to attract positive results in any area, you have to be willing to give up the defense. What defending does is to literally create more of what you're defending against.

Think about the greatest sages and enlightened beings that have walked this earth. When have you ever heard of them defending? And, if they have defended, if you look very closely at the situation, it is more like they are stating the truth instead of defending. They know what most of us need to learn.

Take one of the most classic examples of this in our Western world; the persecution of Jesus. Was there any moment in that story when Jesus tried to defend himself? It would've been a whole other story if Jesus would have tried to defend his position or argued with his detractors trying to free himself. Can you imagine Jesus getting anger and saying "You are wrong! I am right!!!"? It's almost comical. You see in that story Jesus didn't need to be right he needed to stand in his peace. It was is in his defenselessness that his safety laid. This is not to say that his body was not safe. But the essential HIM which is not the body, was completely safe and had nothing to defend against, because the essential HIM will never die.

You are just like that. The essential YOU will never die. All the great teachings have already told you that you have all that the enlightened masters have, you just haven't realize your potential...yet.

So, one of the things in attracting positive results in your life is to be keenly aware about when you're defending against something and when you were just stating the truth. Stating the truth or defending against is an energetic frequency, a feeling or a vibration that is within you. You could be saying the exact same words but on one level your defending and on the other level you're just stating a truth. And you know what they say about the truth don't you? "The truth shall set you ______. " Do you want to be free?

This takes practice for some of you, but I am sure that you can do it. After all the truth is all you are. There is no need to defend the truth is there? I guarantee you that implementing this will help you to attract more positive results in your life because you're underlying vibration will become one of peace and flow instead of one of pushing and defending.

So the next time that a situation comes up where you feel the need to defend, take a deep breath before anything flies out of your mouth. In that breath, STOP and ask yourself if what you're about to say is defending, which will create more of what you're defending against, or is what you're about to say the simple truth? Then either state your truth with love and peace or keep your mouth shut! By keeping your mouth shut it will literally stop the crazy cycle of attack/defend. When that cycle is broken, the vibration changes and when the vibration changes, your results change.

Here is to stating the TRUTH and to defenselessness!