ACIM quote to live by

A Course in Miracles quote from Gabrielle Bernstein's book Spirit Junkie.

"If he senses even the faintest hint of irritation in himself as he responds to anyone, let him instantly realize that he has made an interpretation that is not true. Then let him turn within to his eternal Guide, and let Him judge what the response should be."

What this means is that we control our perceptions of everything and therefore it's existence. Being a woman who is naturally sensitive, sometimes hormonal, and often times defensive, I always read too much into what people say. So I might be having a conversation with a friend when she says something that comes off as mean spirited, rude, and just obnoxious. In my head I am thinking "Wow, what a B%$&*! She has said this before so now I really know what she thinks of me." This is the ego speaking and its perception of the situation. If I were to ask my inner wisdom to intervene what would she say? She would probably help me return to love and see that I have myself created the idea that this person is attacking me. If I return to loving thoughts my perception of this person and the situation would completely change. So the question is do you want to live peacefully and happily with loving thoughts of yourself and others? Or would you rather be suffering and angry person? The choice seems simple.

The bigger idea here is that we are truly the creators of everything in our lives. We create our interpretations and therefore our happiness and everything else that exists in our lives. Everything I learn about spirituality, love, and happiness always goes back to the mind and the thoughts that we think. It is such a difficult aspect to wrap our heads around that we think about we actually bring about. Our thoughts bring things into existence. My thought of love towards this person during a tense situation would have brought more love and happiness into both of our lives instead of anger. And so with that I am making a commitment to myself right now that I will try to follow this rule in my everyday life. 

Day 7: Gabrielle Bernstein

I must first apologize for not keeping up with the summit. I had a really busy weekend and wasn’t able to sit down with the lectures and take notes in order to blog about them. The lectures are only available for 24 hours after they play so this was just not enough time for me. I apologize. However, today was the spirit lecture with my girl Gabby! She is my ‘guru’ and an inspiration for sure.

Being a spiritual being, as Gabby is, starts with a desire. The desire to change and see things differently. You have to really open your heart, mind, and soul to a higher being. The hardest of these is probably opening your heart to more “loving perspectives.”  We’ve been trained in fear and in judgment for so long that making this really important change is also VERY difficult. It’s a “moment to moment” basis, as Gabby says. It takes time. But even the smallest shift in perception is a miracle. You can start by making small subtle shifts everyday that will eventually lead to a higher way of living. If we don’t participate in loving acts we are actually blocking miracles from coming to us. The Course says that miracles should happen each day. If they do not, then something has gone wrong. So if you do not feel you are in a place of receiving miracles, what has gone wrong? Are you closed to the idea of the return to love? Who are you judging? What are you fearing? Who are you not forgiving? Forgiveness, Gabby says, makes love possible. Keep in mind that forgiveness does not mean you are condoning the other person’s behavior. It just means that you are releasing the feelings to allow yourself to reconnect to love.

Gabby begins her spiritual ritual (J) with a prayer from ACIM. In her meditation she says to the universe “Where would you have me go, what would you have me do, what would you have me say and to who?” This puts you into a state of mind where you are letting a higher knowing guide you. This can be Gd, your inner wisdom, inner guide, universe, or whatever you wish. Connect to the prayer and allow it to guide you to other places in your meditation or journal.  Then listen. Allow yourself to receive, be open to receiving. Be open to any change in perception that may occur.  

Lastly, I will leave you with a quote “There is a divine spiritual assignment in every being”. Think about this and what it means to you and the connections and relationships you make in life. There is a higher reason for every person that you meet and every relationship you partake in.

<3 Live, Love, Miracles

Don’t forget to visit Gabby at gabbyb.tv and her social networking site herfuture.com (this site is full of amazing women wanting to help you). Also check out her two fab books: Spirit Junkie and Add more ~ing to your life!

The Queen

Lady Gaga spoke to me at the gym the other day. For some reason her song "The Queen" was very empowering for me. One of the women on the BFL summit this week mentioned that every woman should be a queen. Not the entitled, rich, and snobby queen but your own powerful, spiritual, intelligent, and loving queen. Agreed. May we all be a queen on this Friday.




Here are the lyrics and the song on YouTube.

"The Queen"

Oh
Tonight I'm gonna show
Them what I'm made of, oh!
The killer queen inside me's
Coming to say "Hello!"

Oh
Tonight I will return
The fame and riches earned
With you I'd watch them all be burnt

Whoa-Oh, Whoa-Oh

Whenever I start feeling strong, I'm called a bitch in the night
But I don't need these 14-carat guns to win
I am a woman, I insist it's my life

I can be
The queen that's inside of me
This is my chance to release it
Be brave for you you'll see
I can be
The queen you need me to be
This is my chance to be the dance
I've dreamed it's happening
I can be the queen

I am wind and hurricane
The stormy sky and rain
When you run dry I'll flood your pain

Whoa-oh, Whoa-oh

In between the moments of
The lady I've become
A voice beats through the noise like drums

Rhomp-a-bump-a

Whenever I start feeling strong, I'm called a bitch in the night
But I don't need these 14-carat guns to win
I am a woman, I insist it's my life

I can be
The queen that's inside of me
This is my chance to release it
Be brave for you you'll see
I can be
The queen you need me to be
This is my chance to be the dance
I've dreamed it's happening
I can be the queen

The quee-ee-ee-ee-een
The que-ee-een
Quee-ee-een
Quee-ee-een

Starry night come inside me like never before
Don't forget me when I come crying to heaven's door
I will fly on a challenger across the sky
Like a phoenix so you can remind them of the dream I bore

Whoa-oh, Whoa-oh
Whoa-oh

Oh whoa-oh, Whoa-oh
Whoa-oh

Marci Shimoff: Day 3 of the Big Fat Lies Summit, SUCCESS

You probably recognize that name. Marci was a huge part of "Chicken Soup for the Soul" as well as "The Secret". She even has her own two bestselling books.
And so day two began with a big fat lie. One that is so common I bet everyone has used it. I'm guilty for sure. Have you ever said to yourself "I'll be happy when... I get that job or that house or that soul mate"? Sure you have. We all do. And it's a big fat lie. You won't be happy then either if you're not happy now. There will always be something more that you want even when it seems you have it all. This happened to me. I got to a place in my life where I had everything I ever wanted. But it still didn't seem to be enough. I wasn't happy because true happiness has nothing to do with the outside world. Inner happiness is true happiness. Marci says all we need to be happy are the mere essentials. After that, we will always want more and more. More money, more beauty, more success. And when it comes to success, she says, inner happiness is what makes a person successful not the other way around. Something to think about.

Then she gave us some statistics from Forbes Magazine. 40% of the wealthiest people are more depressed than the average person. Happy people make about 1 million dollars more than unhappy people over their lifetimes. Being happy and radiating love is what makes you more successful. Having this inside of you is the highest energy for manifestation. That means that the more you love and share happiness the more you will be able to manifest more happiness and love. It makes sense. You bring about what you think about.

Here are some practices that Marci gave us for getting in touch with your true happiness.
1. Inner ease. This is a breathing meditation where you touch your heart and really try to get in tune with it while relaxing and breathing.
2. Practice self love. Ask yourself at some point during the day what the most loving this is you could do for yourself in that moment. Then do it! Maybe it's go for a walk or do a short meditation at your desk.
3. Forgiveness. Forgiving yourself and others is the most powerful tool you can have in your tool belt. A Kahuna Hawaiian practice that is well known around the globe for purification is this: Repeat the following to directed at yourself or someone else: "I'm sorry. Please forgive me. Thank you. I love you." Marci shared her own story of using this tool to reconnect with her sister after a fight they had. The results were tremendous. Try forgiving someone today and I promise you will feel much lighter.

In conclusion, success will not bring you happiness. Happiness will bring you success. If there is something holding you back in your career, raise your energy by raising your happiness level. Be present. Don't put off your happiness until later. If you are not happy now in the present, you won't be in the future either. Remember that you don't have to be lost. You can ask for a miracle to change the way you perceive happiness and your life.

Live, love, and expect miracles <3

The Ego

Wednesday nights I meet with a meditation group in a Yoga studio. It is led by an ER doctor who is very zen and does a great job helping everyone relax. In the beginning he spoke about love. How we have the power to transfer love and energy from us to someone else and back. He gave an example of his dog. How when he is in the present moment with her and really enjoying her he can feel the love radiate from her to him and back. It's a good lesson in living completely in the present.

It was a bit more difficult for me to relax during my meditation this time. I had a lot on my mind. I was feeling guilty for only getting to spend an hour with my son before the class. I felt like I had a lot to do at home and at work. A co-worker's wife was diagnosed with cancer recently so I was thinking about that. I just couldn't relax. I guess you could say it was difficult to be in the present moment.
Knowing what I know about the ego, I was sure it was rearing its ugly head. For those that are not familiar, the ego is that voice inside that tries to keep you down, negative, and fearful. We all have it. Christine Arylo calls it your inner mean girl. When we choose love, we also choose to turn away from the ego. This is difficult for me and I found the ego to manifest itself into my legs that night. As I was trying feverishly to clear my head, I started to feel great amounts of energy in my legs. Think Restless Leg Syndrome. I felt I had to move them or walk around. It was a very strong feeling. Luckily, the 20 minutes were over and I was able to relax again (funny to relax AFTER the meditation). I shared my meditation with the group. Dr.Chris pointed out that I was probably right that my emotions and feelings had taken hold of my body. He pointed out that we all have 'inner demons' and the point is not to release them into the world but to bring them out into our consciousness and be aware of them and deal with them. Whether it's your inner demons, mean girl, ego, feelings, emotions, or fears, it is always beneficial to be honest with yourself, be aware of them, and deal with them. Meditation is a great way to bring things to the surface (as I did that night) and I find Tapping to be a great way to get rid of them. I will get into Tapping with Jessica Ortner in my next post.

Until then, live, love, and expect miracles!

I love this picture of Gabby meditating! Even in our fast paced lives, we should still find time for peace.

Love, The Universe, and your ~ing

Good morning!

My last post was very general so I hope this one gets into a little more detail and sort of sets the path for future posts. As I spoke about yesterday, Gabrielle Bernstein is a true teacher for me. She has really opened my eyes to what our lives can and should be. Gabby is a teacher of "A Course in Miracles". ACIM is a metaphysical text that helps guide the student back to love and away from fear and negativity. I currently have ACIM on stand by as I finish Gabby's most recent book "Spirit Junkie". The gist of what teachers like Gabby and Marianne Williamson (also a teacher of ACIM) speak about is that when we were born we where whole. We were pure, had no fears, and knew how to love. As we grew, fear was instilled into us and we began to turn our backs on love and focus more on the fear in our lives. I admit it is very difficult after many years of worrying, fearing, judging, and hating to just flip a switch and start loving everyone and everything. It takes time, energy, and focus. But the it is a rewarding process full of gratitude and happiness. Mother Teresa says, "If you judge people you have no time to judge them." practice this and I promise you will start to shift your mind set and change your mood.

Another key aspect that Gabby speaks about (which really resonated with me) is surrendering yourself to the Universe, Gd, Holy Spirit, or whoever/whatever you feel a connection with. What this means is that you acknowledge that the Universe has a plan for you. Sure, you get to make decisions and choose some paths, but there is a bigger plan. You have a purpose. Once you surrender yourself and your planning, Gd has the opportunity to take over and guide you on the best path for you. If something in your life is not working out the way you had hoped, you have to believe that there is something better coming. The Universe has your back (as Gabby would say). Honestly, once I started practicing that, saying that to myself, and meditating on it, my life changed. Suddenly I got the job I wanted, the house, the people, and most importantly there was an attitude adjustment.

The last thing I want to talk about right now is your inner guide (~ing, from Gabby B.). This is your inner voice that has all the answers. You never have to be afraid and you never have to wonder. You just have to ask, surrender, and then listen.This is best done through meditation. Sitting quietly and letting your mind be still will allow you to hear your inner voice and receive messages from the Universe. The more you practice this the better you will be at it. I suggest Gabby's guided meditations for beginners. These can be found on iTunes.

Those three key points (love, the Universe having your back, and your inner guide) are only the beginning as you can imagine. however, it's a great start and anyone would benefit from practicing these.

Stay tuned, much more to come about the ego, your health, tapping, miracles, meditation, and SO much more!

Live, love, and expect miracles today <3

Check out Gabby's Website and the books below!

The beginning. . .

After my freshman year at a collge in NYC, i decided to move back home and go to a local university. This was sort of the beginning of my search for something more in life. I was unsure what I wanted to study and unsure of my true purpose. And so I began reading many of the books written by Rabbi Kushner (Living a Life that Matters, The Lord is Our Shepard, etc.). My readings helped me build a relationship to Gd and religion but at the tender age of 19 that wasn't enough (or what I was really looking for). Pursuing an accounting degree began to take over and I didn't continue my "search" until my senior year when I read "The Secret".


I felt an instant connection to the teachings and the idea that what you think about you bring about. It was revolutionary, for me. I read and reread the book, watched the movie, and listened to the book on CD off and on for years. I truly believe that it was with those tools that I successfully manifested certain experiences and people into my life. But for me it wasn't a way of life it was just a way to potentially get what I wanted at that time. It didn't necessarily mean happiness. And so I searched for more yet again.


That is when I found Gabrielle Bernstein (author, motivational speaker, and miracle creator). She came at just the right time (the teacher appears when the student is ready). My husband had just separated from the United States Air Force after 6 years and we moved back to our home town. We were excited, happy, but scared about the job market, taking on a mortgage, and adjusting to our new life. And so I opened an Elle magazine and started a new life.


I will go into more Gabby detail in later posts but let me just say that her two books are MUST READS. "Add more ~ing to your life" is a great introduction into happiness, love, miracles, and meditation. While "Spirit Junkie" digs a little deeper into Gabby's personal quest and gives you a better understanding of how to live a miracle-full life.


More on both of these books and many more in later posts. Stay tuned and get inspired to live, love, and expect miracles <3