Tag: #LouiseHay

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Embrace the Flaws – Feel the Love

Acknowledging the flaws that short circuit my serenity and growth is an act of self-love.

Defense Mechanisms

It’s hard to admit imperfections and shortcomings. Avoidance, denial and projection all conspire to block my progress and keep me stuck in the status quo. Finding support to fess up in today’s environment takes fortitude. Resolve, wherefore art thou?

Maybe I know what I know, but that stuff’s ghastly. So, look away.

Making the unconscious, conscious is unnerving. Denial keeps anxiety and distress at bay; nothing to see here.

If there IS something to see, it’s not me – it’s you.

In Psychology Today, Shahram Heshmat Ph.D. says these “defense mechanisms work by changing the way we feel or interpret a situation. But they do not change reality.” Ultimately, he says that the “price for this protection is the inability to develop resilience.”

Resilience

Life can be overwhelming when I deny, disparage, or push away parts of myself that I deem embarrassing or shameful. Kendra Cherry (What Is Resilience?) says “Instead of falling into despair or hiding from issues by using unhealthy coping strategies, resilient people face life’s difficulties head-on.”

Resilient people are survivors. Their feelings are in control, and they manage their emotions. They work through difficulties. Resilient people accept who they are and are kind to themselves. Recognizing “the importance of support” they know “when they need to ask for help.”

Resilience is a skill worth pursuing.

When I face life head-on, I own my rough edges and ugly moments. These cringy bits are common; everyone has them. They aren’t shocking, but understandable when I appreciate my story. Letting go of habits steeped in defense and sanctuary want a decision and discipline. Decisions aren’t possible without awareness. Change won’t come without self-acceptance.

Recently I found a letter I wrote as my Higher Self to my younger, judgy self. So gracious and loving. She reminded me that the choices I made carried me to where I am today. Each step gave me experience and wisdom. Today I’m laying groundwork for new insights and blessings. The journey continues; mistakes and disappointments are a given. When I love myself despite all that, miracles happen.

“Today you are you! That is truer than true! There is no one alive who is you-er than you! Shout loud, ‘I am lucky to be what I am!’” – Dr. Seuss

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The Common Cold – Just Being Awesome

In her book You Can Heal Your Life, Louise Hay says a bout with the common cold might indicate having:

“Too much going on at once. Mental confusion, disorder. Small hurts. “I get three colds every winter,” type of belief.”

Using affirmations to set a healing intent can be helpful. For colds, she suggests:

“I allow my mind to relax and be at peace. Clarity and harmony are within me and around me.”

Everyone gets sick. Not everyone has the luxury of resting long enough to heal completely. But if we look though our great big To Do List and determine what MUST be done and what COULD be done, we can prioritize getting rest.

Setting aside our self-assigned optional duties also opens space for the mind to settle and the body to heal.

“Illness is the night side of life, a more onerous citizenship. Everyone who is born holds dual citizenship, in the kingdom of the well and in the kingdom of the sick. Although we all prefer to use the good passport, sooner or later each of us is obliged, at least for a spell, to identify ourselves as citizens of that other place.”

― Susan Sontag, Illness as Metaphor
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Invite Positive Seeds, Works Better Than a Brawl

Recollecting, again! the time I refused to listen to negative music. No books, TV shows or movies that featured bad vibes. Still consider this radical curating unsustainable.

Ignoring or pretending differences don’t exist is impracticable. The world is diverse; opposing opinions and experience create misperceptions and conflict. What’s benign to me may be malignant to others.

Accepting this world of contrast, learning to roll with it – not fight it; seems like a worthy goal.

Many creatives appreciate how the character arc requires transformation. Big change often comes from some struggle or strife; a formula that also plays out in real life. Friction reveals me to me. My reactions to disagreements clue me in to areas I can focus to boost my contentment and joy.

Thich Nhat Hanh’s tells me to invite “positive seeds” – the second of five practices to feed happiness. “Nothing exists without its opposite.” Whatever quality I want to nurture, watering it allows it to grow, while its opposite fades away. Stop the struggle.

Louise Hay applies a similar method to healing the body. Her mind-body connection approach acknowledges how our emotions and worries impact us physically. In her book Heal Your Body A-Z, she suggests possible interpretations on why I might not feel well. Alongside that reading is an alternate thought pattern. By focusing on an upbeat, constructive thought – I invite positive seeds in my body.

Thay’s third practice of mindfulness asks me to listen to my mind, emotions and body. Input that’s hard and stressful is important. Sitting in meditation, intentional breathing and simply walking, allow me to hear my higher self.

Inviting the opposite of my biggest trouble isn’t my default move. But I know that what I focus on grows. Being mindful grows a happy garden.

“What’s funny about opposites be that wet and dry both has water, boy and girl be about people, Heaven and Hell be the places you go when you die. They all has something in common. So they an’t completely different from each other the way people think. Having the one don’t mean t’other be gone.” ― Tracy Chevalier, Burning Bright