Karma

The more I learn about how the world operates, the more I realize I know nothing. But I also realize that God gives you plenty of opportunities to master the lessons you need the most. Karma. Learn the first time and be done with it. Don't quite learn it? Doomed to repeat it. But Doomed may not be the choicest word, for it is sometimes a real blessing to have the chance to keep learning. Few things are fatal. 

All this is a very cryptic way of saying, I think I'm getting the hang of realizing when I'm in the midst of a lesson, even if I'm not all that keen on resolving the situation in the best way. 

Today, I had a confrontation at the gym where I teach yoga. Once upon a time, I enjoyed getting into somebody's face when they annoyed me. But I've been operating on a different vibe and working pretty hard at changing my automatic responses to situations. So today, as this event was unfolding, I did my level best to stay calm, to project love, to see the argument from all sides, and to attempt to diffuse the anger being thrown at me. 

When all was said and done, it took me a really long time to bring my attention back to the present moment. The energy I was giving off was so affected that I couldn't get my music to work, I couldn't keep track of my yoga flow, I had my rights and lefts totally mixed up. But soon enough, I remembered to stop, take a few deep breaths, center myself on the thoughts that I breathe in love, breathe out peace, and I carried OM. 

I'm sure this whole incident will somehow turn into a yoga lesson, or two or three. Isn't everything a yoga lesson now? :)

I walked into a Hallmark store this afternoon and the first display I saw was a frame that had a "... days til I'm a grama" sign. The number was 108 - the number of beads on my mala. I immediately touched my wrist, breathed love and light into my body, smiled and continued shopping. 

The universe keeps giving me confirmation that I'm moving in the direction of my Dharma! 

What kind of lessons do you find yourself repeating?

How to manifest anything

I've spent the better part of the last 18 months creating a new reality for myself. It began a long, long time ago, but it didn't really pick up momentum until I started yoga teacher training a year ago January. This is when everything I had learned and experienced previously started to come into sharp focus.

I have been on this journey for as long as I can remember, but what I didn't understand then, that I understand now, is that until you create new patterns of behavior, you will generally respond to situations from your default settings, and my defaults needed to be reset.

If you Google "Manifest" you will likely find an entry from WikiHow on "How to Manifest Anything". It is bizarre for me how readily available this information is, yet how few people realize how simple changing your life can be. One of my teachers explained to me that you can read something a hundred times, but until you are ready to understand it, the knowledge will not take root in your mind. 

Over the course of my lifetime I have had countless experiences with manifesting results by the sheer power of my thoughts. Being the skeptic I had been, I generally perceived the results to be either a fluke, a coincidence, or possibly the result of some unseen force that chooses to allow some events to happen, while disallowing others. Often the result would lead to some less than desirable situations that left me feeling like maybe I was wrong in thinking I could create a wonderful life for myself. Even more often, this would lead to depression and/or anxiety, filling me with regrets that I had even attempted to change my fate. 

So what changed? My brain did. I have been fully immersed in a course in changing my life, by changing my mind. I have been surrounded by teachers that have helped me to "see clearly now." I have tested the theories and repeatedly gotten the same results and I can safely say, you CAN create a wonderful life for yourself, too!

Here are the simple (easier done than said!) steps to creating a new reality for yourself, according to the WikiHow page:

1

Accept and acknowledge that your thoughts are forms of energy that contain the seeds of your future experience.

2

Learn to still your mind. Meditation is both easy and difficult. Once you master the meditative state, begin to introduce a specific word like 'happiness' or an image (sort of like your personal logo) in which you have invested some meaning (like a check with a specific amount on it).

3

Reinforce this technique by keeping a new reality journal. In it write accounts in the present tense (as if happening now) of what you do, say, think in the experience that you are manifesting.

4

Make way for new experiences by consciously changing old habits and routines. Take a new route to work. Get up earlier. Have something different for breakfast. Give up some things.

5

Create rituals to symbolize your expected outcome. If you are manifesting a new car, buy something small that symbolizes it.

6

Enlist the support of all supportive forces: trusted friends, favorite places, inspiring music, or even your own created talismans.

http://www.wikihow.com/Manifest-Anything