Ever feel like you are walking through a land mine but it happens to be your life?  Every decision becomes critical, because you fear one misstep can blow it all up.  You do your best but there is a misstep.

Things blow up.  Exactly what you projected happened.  Projection comes from a place of fear.  It comes from a script we thought up in our minds.  Our belief in this script or ‘story’ created an illusion we mistakenly saw as reality.  It is not reality.  It was our own thought and our own creation.

“Projection makes perception.  We look inside first, decide what kind of world we want to see and then project that world outside making it truth as we see it.” – A Course In Miracles

We can stay stuck in this illusion which we have created.  We can get lost in our pain.  Or we can choose to shift our perception.  Choose to see things differently.  Choose to let go of what was and embrace the transition life is calling us into.  It is important to remember that sadness is ok.  Feeling our loss, our pain and our terror is an important step in the healing process.  

The greatest gift we can give our children is to tell them it’s ok to be upset.  If we allow them to cry, to be disappointed, to feel sadness and to experience loss, then they will come to understand that these are natural events in life.  When we tell them to STOP IT or attempt to fix them and take away their pain, then we are stunting both their growth and ours.

Our daughter was so sad the other day she cried out in pain.  I listened.  I held her.  I told her that disappointment was ok.  I did not bombard her with things that I thought would make her feel better.  I just empathized with her that yes sometimes life brings us disappointment.  That it is a natural part of life.  That when we accept this we will not suffer as much.  She stayed upset for a very long time.  I allowed her the space to do this.  I accepted my own powerlessness as a parent that many times in her life I WILL NOT be albe to fix her pain.  I don’t have to and it’s not my job.  My job is to be a calm and supportive figure in her life.  If I try to fix her pain now, she will look for a ‘fix’ for the rest of her life.  Instead I choose to teach her acceptance.

“You may  believe that you are responsible for what you do, but not for what you think.  The truth is that you are responsible for what you think, because it is only at this level that you can exercise choice.  What you do comes from what you think” – Course In Miracles.

Think of the man in prison who decides he is not a prisoner.  Instead he decides to use his time to continue his good work and follow his passions.    He reads, writes, builds a community around him and grows.  He comes out to become the President.  President Mandela then went on to win the 1993 Nobel Peace Prize.

His thoughts could have been that of a victim.  A prisoner he could have seen himself and identified with.  He was there for 27 years ~  Most of us could not imagine such a sentence.  Or could we?  Do we not imprison ourselves with our own limiting beliefs?  With our thoughts and stories we create a false reality in our lives?  Have we been doing this all our life, for 27 years, for 50 years?  At what point in our life will we decide differently?

What will it take to get our attention?  What will it take to jolt us into another way of thinking? Is it not pain that is often the catalyst to motivate us toward change?

So think about this.  It is courageous indeed to take this journey away from being a victim and into the light of owning your power to change your thoughts.  It is courageous indeed to recognize that your reaction to life is your choice.  That if your child is sick you can choose to feel singled out and believe life is against you or can decide to create a foundation to find a cure for their illness.  Do we think we have more problems than others?  Do we look at all those around us and believe no one has it as tough as we do.  Do we think ‘they’ just do not understand?  Do we seek to understand ‘them’ or have we created our own small world focused solely on ourselves, our thoughts, or our false realities that cause us to suffer.

How do we know if we are in the light?  We feel joy.  How do we know if we have created a false reality?  We suffer.  How do we know if we are stuck?  We resist the guidance of others, we defend our story and we are closed off to considering another possibility.  This causes us to suffer, it stifles our creativity, it makes it challenging to move past our own limiting beliefs.

We stay suck and life sends us more of what we created all the while we revolt at the injustices of life.

If we are tired.  If we are stressed to the max.  If we are confused.  If we are lost.  If we suffer.  All of these states are a sign that we have failed to let go of what we want and instead embrace what is.  We have instead focused on what we want from the world rather than what the world needs from us.  We have created a prison for ourselves all based on our false thoughts.  Our ego will resist this possibility.  Those who are joyful understand this process and that is why they are joyful.  Those are suffering will deny this process and that is why they will suffer.

Are you joyful?  Do you deny this process?  How interesting ~  Pretend you may be incorrect.  Pretend you have the power to change your thoughts.  The next time negativity creeps in decide instead to replace it with a positive thought.  My job sucks can be shifted to I am thankful for a pay check.  My children are making me crazy to I am thankful for healthy children.  My children have an illness to I am thankful to be an American born into one of the greatest and most advanced medical communities in the world.  This is the way to shifting our perception.

Remember we can not be committed some of the time.  All change (weight loss, financial success, education, overcoming illness, changing our state) requires committed focus.  The courage to stay with change is within us all.  The power to shift our thoughts is within us all.  You are remarkable.  You are powerful.