Is it just me, or did this week just fly by? As we transcended another month as well and even were visited by a prognosticating rodent it was another busy week here at “Becoming Today”.
Taking a look back, I feel like doing it in reverse from our normal reviews. So beginning with the end, yesterday we discussed how, “Forgiving Begins Within“.
Forgiveness is something that for many people is easier said than done. For me it was especially hard to learn how to forgive myself.
To fully forgive involves allowing ourselves to let go, To actively and consciously release the need to hold on to past baggage, old quarrels, unfinished business or the need to get even.
To let go of past hurts, you need to make the conscious decision to take control of the situation. However, this can take time and practice. Be kind to yourself as you practice self care and love.
Then you can say good-bye to anger, guilt, shame, or any other feeling limiting your growth. Let it go. Face forward, look upward and you get busy moving on.
In doing so it becomes much easier to practice gratitude.
See the good in everything and everyone. Cherish beauty, kindness, love, and joy. I believe everyday should be Thanksgiving. I am constantly giving gratitude for all things including the lessons we sometimes don’t want or think we need.
Being grateful puts us in a better state. One of bliss, joy and abundance. When you decide to adopt and commit to an attitude of gratitude, God listens and rewards you. Then you are free to be, in an atmosphere of abundance rather than lack and fear. Being grateful is a conscious and easily sustainable habit. Make it one of yours.
Thursday wee took Groundhog Day to look at “Seeing Your Shadow“.
What is our shadow side or our shadow selves? These are the dark repressed thoughts, attitudes, beliefs and emotions which we have repressed and prevented them from being brought into the “light” . Much of the modern discussion around our shadow sides comes from the work of psychologist Carl Jung.
As Wikipedia elaborates, “In Jungian psychology, the shadow (also known as id, shadow aspect, or shadow archetype) is either an unconscious aspect of the personality that the conscious ego does not identify in itself; or the entirety of the unconscious, i.e., everything of which a person is not fully conscious. In short, the shadow is the unknown side.”
To those in the psychological world, your shadow is thought of as for everything we can not or will not see in ourselves.
However my earliest memories of these discussions come from the traditional Cherokee teaching of the Two Wolves Inside. The short version is a grandfather telling a young boy about the two wolves that live inside each of us. They are engaged in a constant battle . One is good. The other evil. The child asks, which wolf wins,and the sage elder replies, “whichever one you choose to feed”.
Since most of us are at least initially unwilling to see or accept anything unattractive or negative about ourselves, most often we are likely to see the shadows of others befor our own. However opening up to the willingness and responsibility of exploring our dark sides has many powerful benefits including having a clearer focus, a better defined vision, improved relationships, a more accepting and acknowledging attitude, greater creativity, and a more awakened spirit.
All are tools empowering us along our paths towards “Becoming”. So quit putting it off and realize you must embrace yourself and accept your dark side. No more denying or hiding. You have a dark side. I have a dark side. We all have dark sides. The time has come now for us to admit it and free ourselves from it’s negative power and side effects.
Acknowledging your dark side does not mean you have to embrace it.
Midweek we found ourselves, “Looking In Our Mirror“.
To start “Becoming”, you need to bypass your mind. Detach from those lingering thoughts , worries, and distractions. Find that peaceful place and in solitude to make the decision to take action for yourself.
Make the decision to follow your heart and take action on what you know for yourself, what you want to achieve and the Truth. Just make a decision to listen to your heart and heed your intuition. Your heart is programmed by God. Your mind by other people. Choose love and the path revealed will lead you to your true purpose, your destiny, the life you were intended to live.
The power to do it. The power to achieve it all is within.
Listen to it.
Follow it
Expect it.
Grow with it, then you are “Becoming”.
Finding the freedom to renew, rejuvenate and revitalize yourself begins with an understanding of all that being free entails
Here is an abbreviated version of my 8 Steps to Freedom:
- Check and Protect your Self Esteem:
Your self-worth has everything to do with the ability to free yourself. Challenge your negative thinking. Then make sure you are not getting involved in patterns of self delusion or accepting falsehoods as the truth
- Live Authentically and Expectantly
Always be expecting, and expecting nothing less than the best. Earlier I shared the results of a 16-day contemplation, I did for determining the authenticity of the life I am living. You can find it in the archives from January 11th, 20/20 + 1. For now, here are some highlights:
- Let go of habits, routines and people that no longer serve you.
- Speak your truth.
- Learn to trust your intuition.
- Celebrate Life. Live it. Feel it. Be it. Honor yourself by living every day to the fullest.
- Empower Yourself
Dive into your strength. You were intended to be joyful, successful and confident. You’re only limited by your own thoughts. Create a shift in your thinking; empower yourself to live the life you want. Ask for ( and receive) the support of your higher power. Can we get another Amen! Here? I ask ceaselessly and it is granted.
- Practice Forgiveness
You can not create a state of “Becoming”, if you aren’t willing to let the former or current realities go.This is a vital part of “becoming”. Not only forgiving others for perceived wrongs, and asking for forgiveness from those you may have hurt but also forgiving yourself.
- Be Grateful
See the good in everything and everyone. Cherish beauty, kindness, love, and joy. I believe everyday should be Thanksgiving. I am constantly giving gratitude for all things including the lessons we sometimes don’t want or think we need.
- Realize Reactions Resonate
As one of my favorite quotes from Chuck Swindoll reminds us, “Life is 10% what happens to you and 90% how you react to it.”
So begin by accepting the fact that you are co-Creator. You are more than capable of choosing the right actions when pushed, promised or promoted. Accept Personal Responsibility. In order to fully accept your reality, you must take ownership of any role you may have played, good or bad, in leading you to where you are. When you do, then you can work on decisions for the next steps.
- Love Thy Self
Be free to love yourself. When you do, then you are free to love others. Be vulnerable. Opening yourself to growth. To me it seems the best way to heal is by learning a lesson from the situation, then using it to be “Becoming”. Channel your thoughts, intentions, desires and energies into focusing on growth and building that momentum that moves both forward and upward.
- Always Be “Becoming”
On Tuesday, we spent our time together, “Renewing Your Perspective“.
I believe this was destined to be a week of change. Right on schedule, changes will take hold and are prompting many of us to shift our focus forward and upward.
Looking at some of the traditional concepts associated with Renewal, it has generally been accepted as the start of something new, a time of new beginnings, a period of progress, the blossoming of new things, birth, growth and creating new life. All very “Becoming” aspects.
Other interpretations of Renewal include it being a time of :
These are all types of new beginnings like the ones we may envision for ourselves.
As we accept the challenges of being renewed, we are preparing ourselves for a time of awakening, blossoming and reemerging. When last we spoke, I mentioned that the coming season of Spring does have some spiritual implications. It represents waking from a period of hibernation, a time when we are suddenly made aware of the possibilities of new life, new ways and yes a new us.
We began our time together this week by “Renewing From Within“. As old man Winter was indeed reminding us of his presence, and purpose, I was reminded that while this season is a time of dormancy it is also a very enlightening time if you choose to accept it.
Winter allows us to go within where we are suddenly made aware of the possibilities of new life, new ways and yes a new us.
In the Scriptures, the passage often referred to as “A Time For Everything”, outlines the many changing seasons we all experience in life. It outlines the constant cycle of “Becoming”. In fact 28 specific times or seasons are mentioned in this one passage.
Now on “Becoming Today”, as part of our examination of ourselves and our shared paths we’ll take note that not included in those examples is a very important aspect; none of the 28 mention a time to quit.
Ecclesiastes 3:1-8, is perhaps so revered and often quoted because of its poetic approach towards life. It balances 14 distinct elements we all experience at one time or another, and some more than once. It reinforces our constant state of Always Being “Becoming”.
It teaches and reminds us that life is a mix of joy and sorrow, pleasure and pain, harmony and struggle, and life and death. Each season has its appropriate time.
Some are difficult, and still we know that we must never give up and continue on in Faith, trusting in God, believing his plans for us are always based upon good purposes and joyful outcomes.
Included among the lessons learned in studying these verses is that we are to accept each day as a gift from the hand of God because He has a reason and a time for all things.
There is much wisdom to be gained in understanding this concept of
“There is a time for everything, / and a season for every activity under the heavens.”
When we live our lives in faith we are “Becoming” our destinies as we comprehend and embrace the power in always trusting God. Our lives truly reveal their meaning and purpose when we rely on His wisdom, timing and goodness.
That was another week that was. What’s next? To find out make sure you join us come Monday on our next edition of “Becoming Today”.
Becoming Today with Rochelle Jeanette 