The only thing constant in the universe is change. The past doesn’t need to predict your future, because you have the power to change your beliefs and responses. Those thoughts can always be of something better. Learn about the natural process of change so you don’t get discouraged as you move forward.
Copyright 2012 Linda Ann Stewart
All Rights Reserved
When you judge that a situation or condition is “bad,” you’re doing so because it’s not living up to your expectations. It’s not going the way you want it to. You want a certain result from it, and something has happened to turn it in a different direction.
Sometimes, this happens because you need to let go of something that’s not serving you anymore. You could have outgrown a relationship, position, or place. And you’re being shoved out of your nest, and into a bigger, wider world.
It may feel like your world is caving in around you, and life is more limited. But this is a temporary condition. In actuality, this condition precedes a greater expansion for you, if you work with it.
Resisting what has happened will simply make the distressing situation last longer. All your energy is going into resistance, instead of letting go of an unraveling rope. Learn what you need to release, and discover how you can move forward.
The Chinese characters for “challenge” and “opportunity” are the same. In every difficulty, there’s a gift for you. Start looking for the opportunities that come with situations that upset you.
~ Linda-Ann Stewart
When you label a situation as “bad,” it tends to live up to your expectations. However, if you can change that attitude to one of looking for the best, it tends to work out for your benefit. Learn a powerful strategy that instructs your mind to seek for the opportunity in your challenges.
Copyright 2012 Linda Ann Stewart
All Rights Reserved
“All the world’s a stage, and all the men and women merely players.”
~ Shakespeare
You are the writer, actor, director and producer of the play of your life. You often react automatically to the situations in your play. These responses are habits that were often formed during childhood. But you ultimately decide whether you’re going to continue in this rut or choose a new path.
Many times, because of your reaction to a situation, other people apply labels to you that you agree with and maintain. Whenever you retain a label that others’ have plastered you with, you let them define who you are and how you’ll act. You give them the power to assign a role for you to play. One that doesn’t reflect the authentic you.
It only takes a single powerful event at a key moment to make an impression that lasts a lifetime. A gifted, young pianist hits a wrong key during a recital, and her father berates her with, “You’re a failure as a musician.” From that moment on, her fingers fumble on the keys when she plays. She accepts the criticism and it becomes her identity.
A label makes sure that you know your lines and your part when the situation calls for it. You know what’s expected of you, and you do what’s expected, whether it’s good for you or not. If you’re really attached to the label, your subconscious will reject any opinion that conflicts with what you believe about yourself.
For instance, a person could believe that they’re not an artist because “I can’t draw a straight line.” But they have a great eye for design and composition. They won’t believe anyone who recognizes their talent because it goes against their long-held belief. They’ll continue to play the role of frustrated artist until they eliminate their label.
What roles have you accepted that are no longer valid or serving you? They may be so engrained, you aren’t even be aware of them. Consider where you feel frustrated, bad about yourself, or when you belittle yourself. These are great areas to start to peel off your labels and rewrite your roles. Decide how you want your play to change and begin producing a new one.
~ Linda-Ann Stewart
“The Magic of Believing”
by Claude M. Bristol
When I first began my studies of mental science and metaphysics, I was urged to read this classic. I resisted doing so, believing that I’d been exposed to the ideas contained in this volume through other authors. I had learned much of what this book teaches through others, but this book goes so far beyond, and into much greater depth, than anything closely related.
This book explores the idea that thought is magnetic, and discusses various experiments that support the theory. The author refers to thought as “mind stuff,” and explains the functions of the subconscious and conscious minds, and how to manifest what we want.
In the chapter on suggestion, he describes how political leaders have deliberately used the power of suggestion for their own aims. We are always being influenced by suggestion, and he explains how to use it for our own purposes, to improve our lives, and how it can seem like magic.
Other chapters address visualization, the mirror technique to change the mind, projecting thoughts, and much more. This book is full of energy and inspiration. If you need a read to motivate you to take charge of your thinking, then pick up this one.
~ Linda-Ann
Question: I realize that we have to go through various experiences to grow and learn a particular lesson and then move on, but what happens if we do not know what the lesson was supposed to be?
Answer: It doesn’t matter if we consciously know what the lesson is or not. Subconsciously we do, and so does our Higher Mind. When you have a challenging experience, you do the best you can with it. (Hopefully you’ve also been able to stay in alignment with your principles.)
Most of the time, you’ll have the same lesson appear over and over again, in different aspects. It’s to “help” you explore different ways to deal with it, and/or to give you an opportunity to master it. In the mastery of it, you may get to experience all sorts of different sides of the issue.
For instance, a person might have a lot of critical people in his/her life. The challenge would be to deal with the criticism in a way that would emotionally support him/herself. But s/he might not know that. All s/he knows is that people are always picking at him/her.
Once s/he begins to stand up for him/herself, the critical people begin to either fade away or change their attitudes. One of his/her issues would be to realize that the critics are simply echoing what is already going on in his/her mind.
In AA, they say that if a partner of an alcoholic doesn’t heal what attracted the alcoholic in the first place, that the partner will continue to attract alcoholics, even if they leave the original one.
If you’re wondering what the lesson could be, assess how you felt during it. Think about other challenges in your life. Is there anything similar about the feelings, or the thoughts you had during it that you’ve had before? With life lessons, there will always be some sort of pattern. The situations may be different, but the feelings will likely be the same.
Copyright 2002, 2011 Linda Ann Stewart
All Rights Reserved
Question: If we are 100% responsible, then are miracles, as some Spiritual paths suggest, only a natural out picturing of Universal law when we really let go?
Answer: Miracles are the natural flow of the Universe. As someone once said (paraphrased) “If you aren’t experiencing them, you’re using your busy mind to create difficulties.”
God isn’t a white knight on a horse waiting to swoop down and save you from yourself. I sometimes wish it were so. When a person prays or affirms help or healing, they’re actually changing their own mind. Not God’s. God is always directing, guiding, inspiring, helping us. God is health, and healing is the process of allowing God as health in.
When a person prays or affirms, they’re acknowledging the truth of the situation. As soon as they convince themselves of it, then it manifests. It’s simple, but not easy.
Copyright 2002, 2011 Linda Ann Stewart
All Rights Reserved
When you have a goal, you may set too many goals at any one time. This can overwhelm your inner mind, and cause it to undermine your progress. You’ll have to make some adjustments to gain your inner mind’s cooperation. Learn how to overcome this barrier and reach your goals.
Copyright 2011 Linda Ann Stewart
All Rights Reserved
Twice last week, situations confirmed the old adage, “When one door closes, another one opens.” I experienced this, and a friend did, as well.
I was completing a project, and getting ready to send it to an inexpensive online copy place I’d chosen after a lot of searching. But before I placed my order, I realized I had several questions. After filling out their contact form with the questions, I waited. And waited.
A week later, I called and got an answering machine. Since my questions were too involved to leave as a message, I hung up. Disappointed, I realized that if that was what their customer service was like, I didn’t want to use their service. So back to the search engine.
Almost immediately, I found another company who was even less expensive than the first one. When I emailed my questions, I got a rapid response, even though it was after hours. So I’m going with them.
My friend had a similar experience. Ten days before a party she was organizing, the venue she’d selected notified her they were going to be closed on that day. After a day of frantically trying to find another location, she found one. It was slightly more expensive, but much nicer and with a better catering menu. And the people she dealt with were much more courteous and helpful.
When you have a door close in your face, it’s hard to remember that it might be for the best. You’ll never know what would have happened if your original plans had gone through. It could have been fine, or it could have been disastrous.
But when it slams, and you have to go looking for a new door, keep in mind that the one you find just might be better in ways you can’t even imagine.
by Linda-Ann Stewart
Recently, a belief surfaced for me that was an aspect of a deeper issue concerning the need to struggle. This specific belief stressed that I could only learn and grow through difficulty. It claimed that it was necessary for me to experience blocks and obstacles, since that was the only way to strengthen me.
It made me realize how pervasive this idea of struggle, suffering and difficulty is in our culture. From religion to business, we’re conditioned to believe that life has to be hard and that we’re born to suffer. Our society has made suffering and struggle a condition to aspire to. Not only is it condoned, it’s expected. Think of the things you’ve heard from childhood.
People actually play a game of one-ups-man-ship about how hard their life is. “I worked more hours than anyone else in the department,” or “My life is harder/worse than anyone else’s.” They get perks from management with the first, and a jolt of power with the second (believe it or not).
If people like this try to draw you in, disregard them. No matter what you do, you can’t please these discontented people. If you engage in their game, they’ll keep upping the ante. When someone says something like that to me, my internal commentary is, “You win. I’d rather have an enjoyable life than a hard one.”
It’s true that suffering sometimes can encourage a person to grow. But more often than not, it just causes them to dig a deeper hole. Struggle may strengthen character, but it’s more likely to cause a person to implode and be self-destructive.
When this belief surfaced for me, I realized that, to a certain extent and in limited amounts, struggle and suffering could be beneficial. It can wake us up and cause us to aspire to something better. Too much of it, though, and it’s counter-productive. In large amounts, it doesn’t build a person up, it breaks them down.
It’s like stress. A little stress helps propel us to develop new ideas, new ways of doing things, and actually creates interest in life. What would life be without a little excitement? To build muscle, we stretch and stress them. But train too hard, and we strain or tear our muscles. Having too much stress for too long harms our health.
We can choose what to believe. Our beliefs create our reality. Since, in the past, I’d successfully transformed a belief to be more constructive, I decided to do the same thing with this one.
I considered how I could turn the idea of struggle around to be more in alignment with the Universe. What if the solution appeared as soon as I hit a snag? What if I could learn lessons while things flowed easily for me?
It may take some time for me to integrate these ideas, but I know that when I do, my life will be enriched. Try it for yourself. You just might be surprised at how wonderful your life can be without believing you need to struggle.
Affirmation
There is no struggle, strife, stress or suffering in the Universal Spirit, which I am a part of. I now erase from my mind the belief that any of these limited ideas are necessary. My life can flow smoothly, while I learn and grow with ease. The answer to any challenge is already apparent as soon as the issue arises. Ideas and internal resources increase as I allow myself to be more open to the flow of the Universe.
Copyright 2011 Linda-Ann Stewart
All Rights Reserved