Tag Archives: love

Stop Stuffing That Pain!

We are in some dire need for collective healing all over this planet. There has been so much pain coming to the surface and so many stuffed emotions rearing their ugly little heads. Things we didn’t want to feel again.

According to scientific research, we store traumas in our cells. We can even carry our ancestor’s traumas in our DNA. The more aware we are of this, the more proactively we can work to heal ourselves, and our world.

When we have worked through our emotions, the stories we carry no longer have an emotional charge. I have felt this in my own life several times. I’ve stuffed away painful situations, hoping to never see them again, only to have it surface years later in unforeseen circumstances. And I’ve worked hard to break the patterns of pain, to try and fully heal, so that I don’t have to experience something again. It takes courage and a very conscious effort to do this “inner work.”

Sometimes it may feel like there are dark forces attacking or negative energies behind what is happening in your life. It knocks you down hard. And you have to pick yourself up again, shake it off, and keep moving forward. You may even reach a point that you just want to scream a big F you! You will NOT be held back! You are a force for good and of the light!

We are collectively experiencing a revelation–a bright light of truth shining on our global pain. It is bringing to surface those hidden emotions that we haven’t wanted to deal with, showing corruption and horrific events that we didn’t even know were possible.

The #MeToo movement has touched so many lives, both with women and men. People who have been hurt and abused are speaking out and this is good. I can tell you that 100% of women I know have all experienced abuse from men at one point in their lives. And I know a lot of men as well who are telling their stories.

We need to collectively take a stand and say NO MORE!

We will not tolerate any sort of abuse, any sort of misconduct, any sort of sexual inappropriateness, and certainly not any sort of physical, mental, emotional, and even spiritual abuse. From anyone! Or any institution!

We also need to dig for the truth. There are things happening in our world right now that are happening on so many levels. Many of the current affairs mean one thing on the surface and almost the complete opposite underneath the rhetoric and propaganda.

I do believe that the TRUTH will set us free! Be open-minded to having your beliefs rocked and shaken to the core.

I remember reading a term “religious abuse” in a book a decade ago for the first time. We are seeing how just how many “trusted” people in all of our institutions, whether they are religious, political, educational, media, business, etc, have used their power inappropriately.

No more.

The majority of people on this planet are good. They love their families and want peace. And the scariest thing of all for the evil ones is that we come together. They try to divide us through race, beliefs, politics, education, culture, and in so many ways. We the people are rising above this. We ARE coming together. We are feeling our pain and it’s moving us to action! It IS happening.

So let’s continue to have intelligent conversations. Authentic dialogues. Let’s support each other. Have compassion and empathy for each other on this journey we call life.

Because life has been painful. For ALL of us in one way or another.

And we can make a conscious choice to rise above it. To use that pain to fuel our passion and make a positive difference.

To connect us to each other, heart to heart. And to heal. To love one another.

And to decide that we are better than the pain.

We are stronger, wiser, and more resilient.

Because in the end, it comes down to: did we live our lives fully? Did we give more love and support? Did we follow our hearts? Did we do good in the world? Did we make a positive impact?

That’s what we’ll be remembered for and that is how we will celebrate our lives!

Make the conscious choice to be empowered and choose love over fear. Each and every time! We can do this!

Choosing Love Over Fear in the Face of a Terror Attack

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On the afternoon of April 7th, there was a terrorist attack in Stockholm, about three blocks away from where I was working on a video project. As we were wrapping up the filming, we could hear sirens and saw several police cars driving towards the city center. We were loading up the video equipment to move on to the next location when the crew got messages about what had happened. All we knew at that time was that a truck had driven onto a busy pedestrian street and drove into a busy department store. It was chaos and we drove away from the area to get to the next location. We tried to continue filming but soon stopped as everyone was quite concerned and wanted to get home to their families so we postponed the rest of the filming to another day.

Stockholm is a small city and we probably only have two degrees of separation max when it comes to knowing people. I actually had a friend who was sitting right above where the truck drove into the department store and she felt the impact and knew something was wrong. What she told me afterwards–and what she consciously chose to focus in on—was the amount of love and heroism from all the people. I believe humanity has a natural ability to reach out and support each other, especially in times of trouble. We (for the most part!) are hardwired to care and have empathy for each other. And this event was an example of this. Because afterwards, people who lived in the city center were posting on Facebook, opening up their homes to people who got stranded in the city (all the trainings and metro systems shut down immediately) and were driving people home. There are countless stories of people choosing to help and support each other in whatever ways they could afterwards.

Someone decided to have a LOVE demonstration two days later and posted about it on Facebook Friday evening. I believe it was one of the biggest turnouts and a strong message of solidarity for Sweden that we choose love over fear. Swedes refuse to allow the insane actions of a few people ruin what Sweden stands for—an open and trusting society. I’m so happy to know that our underlying values in this country are strong. And yes, even though there are still problems, if the vast majority can choose love over fear each and every day, we will make great progress to creating a world in which we all want to live. This small little action is something to keep in mind each and every day, no matter what you do. And collectively, we can—and will—change the world!

This 2 minute video shows what happened that day at the peace demonstration. It was made by Herman Caroan, a very talented videographer, and immediately went viral.

11 Easy Steps to an Inspiring Life

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Inspiration comes in many forms and from many sources. Let’s keep it simple. When you choose to be on a quest to find inspiring information, you can really change the way you look at the world.

I’ve learned on my journey that we need to be discerning about the information we take in, especially the visual images and what we read. It’s a concept I call “Feed Your Brain,” because like all things, we must nuture to grow and be the best versions of ourselves.

If you are constantly bombarded by negative news, images, and information, it brings you down. It’s hard not to be depressed by that. And our mainstream media thrives on bad news. As they say, if it “bleeds, it leads”. Defaulting to our fear based instincts worked back in the cave days when our lives depended on paying attention to the threats of our environment. It was our survival instincts that kicked in and kept us alive.

Our societies have moved on from this. However, our automatic reactions haven’t—unless you actively work on it. When you become aware that most things are not a threat to your survival, you can choose to respond from an entirely different perspective. You can recondition your brain to look at what’s going well, instead of always looking at what is going wrong or could go wrong.

This brings me back to our quest for inspiration and joy. Here are 11 easy tips to change your mindset and start to recondition your brain so that you can have an inspiring life:

1) Stop watching the news. Read the paper or news online. It’s easier to skim headlines and choose to take in what is of interest to you. Choose to read good news instead. Imagine that any information you take in is like food for your brain. Feed your brain inspiring and positive things and you will feel so much better!

2) Spend time in nature. Get connected to the natural beauty that is abundant in our world. Walk barefoot whenever you can, this is called “earthing” and studies show that just a few minutes a day connecting to the earth this way helps reduce stress and lowers blood pressure. It actually helps get your electromagnetic resonance in tune with the earth.

3) Pay full attention when having a conversation. Often we listen with the intent to reply, not to understand. We are thinking about the next thing we are going to say instead of truly listening and understanding what the person is saying to us. Practice conscious listening and you’ll feel a difference in the connection and relationship.

4) Know what inspires you – and then act on it. If reading books makes you feel good, do it. Going to conferences, do it. Listening to good music and dancing like a manic in the privacy of your home, then DO IT! Whatever you love to do, put these things into your daily life.

5) Laugh, laugh, and laugh more. Laughter is the best medicine. It raises your energy, makes you feel good, and releases endorphins, helps you deal with stress, breaks up the tension…the list of benefits goes on forever with this one. Watching babies laughing on youtube is one of my favorites here. Just don’t take life so seriously anymore. It’s all going to work out for the highest good for you.

6) Be aware of how you are feeling. Using the Joyometer (www.Joyometer.com) is a great tool to help you check in on a regular basis to monitor your feelings throughout the day. If you can stay in the positive emotions coming from love 51% of the time on a minimum, you’ll be bringing your dreams and goals into your life.

7) Choose love over fear. All of us have a choice in how we respond to circumstances and situations. Instead of allowing our survival instincts to drive our lives, we can pause and ask, how can this situation serve me? What can I learn here? What would be the best response? You may never have control over circumstances, but when you understand that always have control over how you respond, you become very empowered. You become the creator of your life instead of the “victim” of circumstances.

8) Surround yourself with supporters. It is said that you are the sum of the five people you spend the most time with. Often times, we have some of our toughest relationships that serve to bring us the greatest lessons. Be aware of who you spend time with most—are they living the life you desire to experience? Are they giving you energy, or do you feel drained just by spending time with them? You can minimize the time spent with those energy drainers (I call them energy vampires because they suck your energy out of you) and make an effort to find those who make you feel happy, inspired, and joyful.

9) Do what you love to do. The great equalizer in life is time—we all only have 24 hours in a day. If you aren’t doing work you love, you are not living fully. Figure out your passions. Know your values. Discover your true purpose. And then find work that allows you to express that. Our work is an extension of ourselves, it is our opportunity to create and bring into this world our talents and gifts that no one else has.

10) Be playful and imaginative. As children, we have wonderful imaginations and know how to play. As we grow up, we lose that sense of playfulness. But it doesn’t have to be like that. Richard Branson is willing to dress up as a flight attendant on a dare. What can you do to bring more playfulness into your life? And spending time day dreaming is a great use of your time. Every man made object in this world first started as a thought in someone’s mind. Dream about the life you want to have and the experiences you desire. Before you know it, you’ll be living it!

11) Practice gratitude. All successful people have a high degree of appreciation for life. They are able to take the challenges and see the opportunities that lie within them. When you focus on what is going well by using gratitude, you can shift your mindset and get yourself to a positive frame of mind. For every complaint, come up with 3 good things to counter balance the situation. All situations serve us on some level so look for the lessons and move on.

You have the power and everything you need within yourself to be the best that you can be. Get inspired and you’ll inspire others too. So what is your next step?

Love With a Scientific Twist

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Love is the essence of who we all are. It’s the one thing we all have in common that we want and need to have in our lives…and often feel like we are lacking the most. Love to me is an acronym: Living On Vibrant Energy. Because love is vibrant energy flowing through you and into your life.

In the Bringing Joy series of picture books, Joy shows how we can “plug” into Source energy, which is the same as love. When we are feeling like we are lacking in love, it is only because we are “unplugged” in some way from that vibrant energy.

We can’t see electricity but we know it’s there and that it words for us. It’s the same with Source energy or love. We can’t see it but we know when we feel it or have it in our lives.

The Institute of Heartmath has been studying the heart and its mysteries for almost 20 years. Their findings are fascinating. Did you know that:

The heart emits electromagnetic fields that change according to your emotions

The human heart’s electromagnetic field can be measured up to several feet away from the body

Positive emotions create physiological benefits in your body

You can boost your immune system by conjuring up positive emotions

Negative emotions can create nervous system chaos but positive emotions do the opposite

The heart has a system of neurons that have both short and long term memory, and that their signals sent to the brain can affect our emotional experiences

In fetal development, the heart forms and starts beating before the brain is developed

The mother’s brainwaves can synchronize with her baby’s heartbeats

The heart sends more information to the brain than vice versa

Positive emotions help the brain in creativity and innovative problem solving

Positive emotions can increase the brain’s ability to make good decisions

That the heart’s electromagnetic field is approximately 60 times stronger than the brain

The Institute of Heartmath is teaching about coherence and how to reach it. This is essentially when your heart is open and you are experiencing a state of love and gratitude. Love and gratitude are the strongest positive emotions.

Another book I highly recommend is Hidden Message in Water by Emoto Masaru. He looks at the world from the camera lens of capturing crystals as they are forming on freezing water. He has also discovered that love and gratitude create the most beautiful crystals.

It’s very exciting to see so much research happening about love, our hearts, our emotions, and how we can learn to use all this knowledge to better our lives.

What Holds Our World Together

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Genuine love brings light and positive energy into any situation. All of our positive emotions (such as hope, joy, patience, courage, enthusiasm, appreciation, etc) are rooted in love and are connecting us to the Divine energy.

When we are going through any sort of tough time, it becomes harder to be in the higher range of emotions. It is possible to counteract the lower vibrating emotions with a higher emotion to consciously raise your feelings. If you are angry, you can work with forgiveness to free your own heart. If you are depressed, you can help others to realize that there is always someone who has a harder time than you. However, it is also important to allow yourself to feel whatever emotion you are having because it brings you into the present moment.

Loving yourself will give you patience and understanding to get through anything. Surrounding yourself with people (and even pets) who you can love and be loved by you will help tremendously. This will give you strength to make it through this day, and the next, and the next, no matter what is happening.

Just as we go through cycles of change in nature, know that change is constant. Whatever difficult times you might be facing now is only a phase and will pass. Growth is optional. You have a choice of how you will react to any situation. If you can understand that there must be some higher reason as to why you are going through certain challenges, then it will make it easier to get through. This is why I always say, look for the lesson. It can give you a clue to the purpose of the situation.

Be conscious of how you are feeling and look for the small things in life that you can enjoy. It will bring you into the moment. Our suffering is often based when we are thinking about the past or the future. Learn to live in the Now and you will thrive through each day. Love is the energy that connects us to our higher selves and to each other in the most positive way possible.

A wonderful book I can recommend is Love for No Reason by Marci Shimoff. There are many exercises on how you can bring your life into the flow of love continually. Our world is in desperate need of having this energy flowing freely.

Have compassion, forgive others so as to free your own heart, appreciate all that you have because it is a way of giving thanks to the Universe, and give to others which naturally makes you feel better. All of these actions consciously allow love to flow in your life.

Love is not an emotion. Love is a state of being.
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All the positive emotions we can feel come from this energy of love, which is the Source energy that gives us life! No matter what tough transitions, challenges, or circumstances you may be experiencing, finding ways to allow love to flow will get you through those trying times and into a place you can begin to create the life of your dreams.

Your dream life is waiting for you—it is up to you to claim it! It is my hope that these lessons can help you manage and improve your life. We all have the opportunity to create heaven on earth and live the lives of our dreams.

By reaching our highest potential, we inspire others to do the same.

What action can you take today to bring more love and joy into your life?