Attitude and Effort

In my previous post I talked about people who have a deeply held belief that they must work hard or struggle to get anywhere.  I've seen this attitude adopted in so many aspects of peoples' lives from financial success and gaining of material possessions to the belief that one needs to suffer to achieve enlightenment.

Where does this attitude come from?

The only answer I have for this one is that during upbringing many of us are told that we must work hard, study hard and really try to succeed at whatever we do.  Our society has a habit of turning any endeavour into a competition against everyone else that only one person can win.

While creating abundance, gaining enlightenment, financial success or whatever goal it is we're striving for, the more we seem to try to make it happen, the more effort and struggle we place in reaching that goal the more we seem to block ourselves off from other possibilities that may lead us to the same goal, opportunities we may not have seen before or even worse, block us completely from achieving that goal because we believe that it's a struggle to achieve.

I said it in my previous post as well, and I will re-iterate and expand the point here, just as a mother has the compulsive desire to protect, feed and nurture her offspring the cosmic, the Divine or God, Mother Earth or however we chose to perceive her has the compulsive desire to provide for us everything we could need for our complete physical, emotional and spiritual development.

How can we break such an attitude?

This is a process that I believe is deeply personal, different for each of us and dependant on our desire to change our lives and charge our energy for positive creation, peace and love.

My personal journey involved a period of time where through circumstance I abandoned almost all of my physical possessions and travelled around staying where I could with friends and family.  This really altered my perspective of the world around me and the things that were important to me.   Before this period of time I had worked full time for close to 10 years, earning a very reasonable income and lived very comfortably surrounding myself with everything I thought I wanted - it took me along time to realise that none of it was making me happy at all.

I'm certainly not suggesting that this is the path for everyone, it was hard at times, but so very rewarding in hindsight.

Alternatively through self-knowledge and awareness you may be able to identify the restraints and attitudes that are blocking abundance in your life, meditate upon them, identify with them and re-integrate them in a positive way - something that deserves a whole article unto itself. 

Negativity

Negativity by it's very nature is in opposition to positive, constructive creation.   When we are focusing our energy on endeavours such as vengeance or retribution, pay back, hatred, cruelty and violence we open ourselves up to receiving only that energy back.  It is through opening our hearts, forgiveness and love that we are able to build the energy to work harmoniously with the universe to create abundance in our lives.

Changing "negative" attitudes can be difficult, especially as many of us believe they we are  justified in these feelings.  We fail to see the destructive nature of these feelings and of actions we perform as a result of them.

Being conscious of the pattern, identifying where one is creating this kind of energy around them and by regularly consciously adopting a more constructive and positive attitude the practice will eventually become second nature.

The cosmic can only try to give us everything we need, it is up to each of us to decide to accept it, be open to it and receive the full abundance the cosmic has to offer.   If our actions and thoughts reflect those of  hatred, cruelty, violence, vengeance and revenge then these are all that we will open ourselves to receive from the cosmic.

In writing this article I was inspired to post to my Daily Reflections blog a youtube video of  Roger Glover's Love is All - a fantastic song and something most Australians my age will remember from weekday afternoon kids television on the ABC - enjoy.

Peace & Love.

Blocking Abundance

It's interesting to note that even those of us who claim to know better at some points feel down and lack the energy or motivation required to create the life we know full well that we are capable of creating.

I feel there are a large number of contributing factors in blocking positive creation and abundance in many people's lives.  These can range from our inter-personal relationships with those around us, the environment we are in, our diet and health and probably most importantly, deep underlying emotional issues that we are perhaps not even aware of that cause us to sabotage the things we put into motion.

In saying this, I would like to add that often the challenges and blockages we seem to create in the process of creating the ideal we are striving for are often lessons in disguise, lessons that we need to teach us how to achieve the end we are after - for without having learnt something from that incident we're destined to repeat it ad nauseam.  Because of this, I like to approach every person and situation from the position that it has something to teach me, and for people I hope that I also have something to teach them.  

Knowledge is fantastic in this way.  If I had an apple and gave you an apple - I don't have an apple any more, but with knowledge if I give you my knowledge and you give me yours, we've both gained knowledge and lost nothing.

Inter-personal Relationships

I encourage anyone who is seeking to create abundance in their life to take a close look at the people they choose to associate with.   Surrounding yourself with people who lack motivation or drive you may find rubs off on you - and is counter to the aim you are trying to achieve.  

I'm not suggesting you go out and replace your entire circle of friends immediately, but instead start seeking those who have the motivation, drive and attitude you so desire and begin including these people in your social circle more and more - who knows it may even have the beneficial side effect of motivating and encouraging the others around you.

Also high-maintenance relationships or relationships that are being maintained for the wrong reasons requiring effort and additional resources can be draining and you may find that there is nothing left to focus on creating your abundance.  These can be difficult to deal with, but the important thing to remember is that you must always put yourself first and not be supporting others when you are not resourced enough to support yourself.

I'm not suggesting you leave your partner because you don't have the life you desire, but both of you working together to create the abundance and life you both desire will be even more mutually rewarding and have the benefit of bringing you closer as you work together and see the fruits of your labors bloom before you.

Our Environment

This is much the same as those we surround ourselves with.  In order to create abundance in our lives we need to be in touch with ourselves and our natural environment.  Fighting against our environment and cosmic law is only going to cause struggle, frustration and distress.

I feel it is of the utmost importance to ensure a quiet, personal space is maintained.  Somewhere to hide away, recharge the batteries, study, meditate and focus your creative power.

Our Diet and Health

Something that many often overlook is the substances we are consuming into our body - some more damaging than others, and the reasons why we do it.

For example, eating high sugar content foods will most likely cause wild mood swings as the body adjusts to the varying levels of sugar from a high to low; while subtle it can snowball emotionally to cause conflict and disharmony.   I also have a personal belief that life should not be taken in order to sustain my own, and it is for this reason that I am vegetarian.

Issues with our health tend to be related to emotional states.  Have you ever noticed how much more likely you are to get sick when you're stressed?  Relieving stress through meditation, walking in nature, physical activity or whatever works for you is a fantastic way to help your body maintain a healthy balance both physically and emotionally and will also aid immensely in any endeavour you undertake.

Emotional Issues

Many of us have many deep seated beliefs we're not aware of that can be a hindrance to charged creation; one of the most common I've come across is the belief that one must work hard for everything.  This is most absolutely not the case.  These people can work hard their whole life and not create the life you want.  The amount of effort put into creating abundance and the life you want to live does not directly effect the final result.  It is where and how this energy is used that is most important.

Take the example of a person pushing a huge boulder up hill.  It's a lot of hard work, and every time you stop it starts rolling back down.  It's an uphill battle.  However taking a step back from the problem, a less exhaustive and more efficient method of getting the boulder to the top could probably be found - or additional people to help get it there.  Before doing these things though the question must be asked, is actually getting the boulder to the top what I really want and does it fit my goals, or should I be focusing my energy somewhere else all together?

It can often be difficult to locate the reasons why we are sabotaging ourselves and the abundance we all deserve - but often they are to do with deep seated feelings of worthlessness or low self-esteem for whatever reason or a belief that we don't deserve the abundance that is already ours. 

However finding and getting over those types of issues are way beyond the scope of this introduction article.

I hope to take a look at each of these ideas in more depth in the future.

The important thing to remember here is that the cosmic wants abundance for you - in much the same way that a cow wants to feed her calf.  We are all cosmic children, and our father-mother the cosmic and earth want to nourish, support and sustain us.