What if it's only . . . HOPE?

Man can live about forty days without food, about three days without water, about eight minutes without air, but only for one second without hope. ~ Author Unknown

Photo courtesy: fall out of line

Someone asked me recently, "What if all they're selling is "hope?" By they, she meant people like Oprah, Abraham-Hicks, The Secret, Marianne Williamson, Louise L. Hay, etc. etc. I know this because I asked her to tell who they were. She wanted to know if that's all they were really doing? If there was nothing behind their books and TV shows and seminars? If the only real truth they were giving people was . . . HOPE. My answer was, "Maybe that's all they're giving. But, maybe, that's all we need."

As many of you know, I'm a huge Oprah fan. I love the teachings of Abraham-Hicks and find great comfort and truth in the words and affirmations of Louise L. Hay. I've just practically begun my journey into my own personal truth. I'm still learning every single day to break down the patterns of old thinking. There isn't a day that goes by that an old tape wants to start playing in my mind and therefore, competing with my current play list. The old tapes filled with doubt and self-image issues want to get into rotation. The ones that go on and on about how we have to work hard and suffer and nobody likes to work but that's how life goes. You're not supposed to like what you do for a living, you're supposed to just work to make money and have two weeks vacation. And on and on these tapes can go.

But, from listening to Abraham, The Secret, Louise L. Hay and the rest, I have gained the knowledge needed to stop those corroded tapes from spewing their tired old lies. In their place, a symphony of hope begins to play. With a simple affirmation, I can erase the damage of years past. By watching a YouTube video from Abraham, I can raise my vibration to a better-feeling state. By opening a book and reading the soothing and comforting words of Dr. Wayne Dyer, I can view the things around me in a different way and thereby changing the way I let them affect me. By playing a good Oprah episode filled with some one's dreams coming true, I can see evidence of the possibility!

Maybe all they're "selling" is in fact hope. Maybe my friend is correct in asking that question. The thing is, I have no objection to that. There is nothing better than to hope for something. It's what dreams are made of. Little particles of brilliant, smashing pieces of HOPE. Every time I shoot a rocket of desire for something I want, it is HOPE that propels it into the air. I'll delve a little deeper into the connection between hopes and dreams on Thursday. Until then, you know I have to give you a little assignment. :-) Take stock of the little things that bring or give you hope on a daily basis. Those little miracles that keep you moving in the direction of your dreams. They are PRECIOUS* gifts and the more we take notice of them, the more they will multiply to help us on our journey.

Peace and Light to you and KEEP DREAMING!

Gene-Manuel

*I went to see Precious this past weekend and I urge you all . . . URGE!!!! . . . to take the time to see this movie. It will leave you breathless, inspired and filled with great HOPE. Talk about believing in the impossible and making it POSSIBLE! Outstanding!

Happiness can be shocking . . .

"You have everything you need for complete peace and total happiness right now." ~ Dr. Wayne Dyer

Whenever I'm asked "How are you?" nowadays, almost 99% of the time I answer with an enthusiastic "I'm great! How are you?". I can't tell you how many times this simple and honest response gets me the strangest looks. Whenever I answer truthfully and with a beaming smile that I am in fact feeling and doing great, the majority of the time the person on the receiving end of my answer is shocked. Some people don't even know what to do or say in return. I've had people literally stumble backwards and do a double take as if what they have just seen and heard could not have happened. It's usually a clerk at a store or a cashier at Whole Foods.

By now, most of my friends are sort of used to my upbeat mood. Although there are times when I get asked if I'm "high" on something. That always makes me laugh because then I am compelled to answer "I'm high on life!" which always gets a different response altogether. Ha! That answer's not too far from the truth. I am intoxicated by every single day right from the start. My alarm wakes me and from that moment, I start giving thanks to the Universe for yet another day filled with possibilities right at my fingertips. In a half-daze I look at my vision board and pick out a few words that will stay with me throughout the day. That always helps me get out of bed with a feeling of excitement. Today's words were, OM, CREATIVITY and SEA OF GRATITUDE! Now, that's a pretty great message to start the day!

From there, I continue infusing my day with little things to keep my positive mood going. Being grateful and doing a "Thank You Universe" rampage definitely gets me on the right track for the day. Then, throughout the morning and into the afternoon, I consciously make the effort to be on the lookout for better feeling thoughts. The things I choose to read or see on my commute are also geared towards lifting my spirits and making me aware of all the good that is out there in the world.

Even the people I follow on Twitter are a constant source of inspiration. In fact, I make it a point to mostly follow people or organizations that tweet uplifting messages of hope, peace, and love. That in turn makes me want to do the same. On Facebook, I've begun to do a Thought For The Day, where I try to share whatever it is that I'm personally working through or with. I'm always on the look out for interesting and uplifting people to interact with. From these friends I get a myriad of ideas and helpful hints that add to my joy. There are daily affirmations and new YouTube videos to share and view. I have brilliantly creative friends that share their thoughts daily about life. Others share their gorgeous art and photography and beautiful music. It's never a dull or negative moment for me on these various social sites.

I have also made it a point that I will work on my art every single day no matter what. Even if it's 11:30pm and all I have time to do is add a touch of color to a piece, I will do it. Creating is at the top of my list of things that make me extremely, extremely happy so why would I not strive to create every day? How can I expect to manifest a life filled with art if I don't give it some attention? Nothing makes me happier than when I'm working therefore, not a day goes by that at least a moment is devoted to this joy-giving activity.

My point in sharing all these different ways I keep connected to a positive stream is that it takes a bit of effort and imagination to maintain that connection. But, it is so worth it! Once you get started, it becomes easier and easier the more you do it. We know that what we focus on expands. Why not focus on being happy? Why not make it a point to fill your day with as much happiness as you can? Again, the more you do it, the more reasons you will find to continue being happy!

If you make it your daily intention to have an amazing day filled with joy, the Universe will make sure to bring experiences your way that will bring you that joy! Instead of a "same shit, different day" mentality, understand that this simply isn't so. You have not lived this day and everything that you are experiencing on a moment by moment basis is completely new. It's happening NOW and in the NOW, everything is new and fresh and you have the choice to make it the best moment you've ever had.

A simple shift in focus will have a tremendous effect on your attitude. It has for me. I haven't had a bad day in a very long time. Have there been things going on that might be considered not so great? Sure. But especially on those days, my intention to keep reaching for a better feeling thought and exposing myself to positive and joy-filled energy was even stronger. Before I knew it, the rough patch was over and I came out of it with hardly an emotional scratch. It just took concentrating on the good. There is always something good to focus on.

It's my intention to always be happy. No matter what, I know I have the power to choose a thought that will make me feel good. Beauty and love is all around me. It's in the sky above and in the faces of loved ones that are always there for me. A simple smile given to a total stranger will get you one back . . . most of the time. Ending my day filled with gratitude for the day's events only paves the way to more things to be grateful on the following day. Just a little effort gives amazing results. Try it. You'll have fun shocking people the next time you're asked how you are and you can genuinely answer back, "I'M GREAT!"

Peace and Light to you and KEEP DREAMING!

Gene-Manuel

Dreams have No Expiration Date . . .

"People like you and I, though mortal of course like everyone else, do not grow old no matter how long we live . . . [We] never cease to stand like curious children before the great mystery into which we were born." ~ Albert Einstein (letter to Otto Juliusburger)

Photo: Upward by Llima Orosa (courtesy of the artist)

I can relate to this quote from Albert Einstein. I find myself in love with life and the beauty of nature and people around me at all times. I look at the sky and I am constantly amazed by what I see. Cloud formations that bring to mind magical cities full of wonder. On my daily walk to catch the bus I spend the 8 or 10 minutes it takes to get to the bus stop in pure bliss, just staring at the sky, amazed if I see an airplane flying above and cutting through a big cloud. What a miracle!

I've never been one to think too much about age. I think the last time a birthday made any sort of bleep in my radar was my 25th. That was the only time I thought about it and only because someone asked me how it felt to be a quarter of a century. I had never thought of it that way. But, that was it really. I went through my twenties not really paying much attention. Well, I was hardly paying attention to my life let alone what age I was. Thirty made no impression or thirty five. Most of those years I sort of coasted along, not really putting too much emphasis on where my life was headed or what I was doing here.

This all changed a couple of years ago when I started to question my purpose here on Earth. One thing led to another and the more involved I became in taking control over my reality, being a participating co-creator in my life, the more enchanted I became with the world around me. Then, when I was chosen by my art to bring it to life on paper, nothing's ever been the same.

This new-found sense of wonder and excitement has just grown stronger ever since I started daydreaming on a regular basis. I've written before about how we come into this physical realm with the ability and knowledge to be able to do anything we set our minds to. There was never any doubt that what I wanted to happen, would indeed happen. It was a given. Nothing was going to stop me from doing what I wanted to do.

OK, so I lost the connection for a while but exercising my imagination with guided daydreams and visualizations has once again connected me to this brilliant energy. The energy that I felt when I was a child. I do believe that anything is possible and that we have the ability to use our magical powers to create our lives. We have the ability to make the impossible, POSSIBLE.

And age? What's age? We are ageless beings. As Dr. Wayne Dyer writes in his new book, Excuses Begone!, "Part of you has an ageless mind and is quite oblivious to the physical aging process - and it's available to you if you'll just encourage it with conscious invitations to participate in your life." Our ability to dream and to act on those dreams and make them a reality is also ageless. The thoughts that shoot rockets of desire off into the ever-abundant and wish-granting Universe have no concept of age. They have no idea how long my physical being has been here on this planet. Those thoughts are absolutely pure, without an expiration date, and have every right to have me work towards their manifestation.

I encourage you to once again take the time and nurture your dreams. Take them out for a test-drive and play with them a little. Slowly, bring back that little kid that believed in magic, in fairy tales and in the impossible. He or she is still quite capable of teaching you all you really need to know about why you are here and what amazing things you can do, what beautiful things you can have, and what a brilliant person you can be. Take a lesson from the child in you about what an incredible world we live in. Bring back that sense of wonder and every single day, you'll be able to give thanks for being here and find new things to be grateful for. Defy aging and join Einstein in becoming one of the "curious children", always amazed by life!

Peace and Light and KEEP DREAMING!

Gene-Manuel

Repairing our connection . . .by "checking in."

“Learn to let your intuition—gut instinct—tell you when the food, the relationship, the job isn’t good for you (and conversely, when what you’re doing is just right).” ~ Oprah

Every time I've gone against my gut instinct, I've paid the price. And I do mean, every single time, without exception. I have recently been more attuned to it and have made a conscious effort to truly listen and pay attention to my gut at all times. It's how I've come to create my art. The fact that I now work on something that brings me so much joy and feels so good is all due to following my gut instinct and listening to Inspired Action.

This hasn't always been the case. I have plenty of experiences where I decided to either listen to other people, or I've let my ego get in the way. When I've done this, I've completely turned my back on my inner voice, my intuition, and the results have always been disastrous! That is because we come into this physical world reality with this miraculous built-in connection to Source Energy. I mean, we are born with this otherworldly GPS device already programmed with all that we'll ever need to guide us in this world. From the start it is giving us information to help us along. As babies we cry when we're hungry or sleepy or need changing. Nobody told us to do this! This was all instinctual. We came here knowing this was how things had to be until we learned to communicate with these beings that were our parents and started using words.

As we get older and get exposed to outside influences, we tend to start listening to other people, maybe a little too much. We also start dealing with our friend, ego. And our ego, if we let him or her, will take over our lives. Dr. Wayne Dyer likes to say that the word ego stands for Edge God Out. I think he's totally right. That's one of the things our ego loves to do. It gets in the way of our gut instinct and tries to shut it down. Ego believes it has what's best for us in mind when in reality, it's only thinking about what's best for ego to survive. The more it can get in the way of our connection to our Source Energy, the better its chances of sticking around telling you what to do.

So, as the years go by and our ego gets stronger and we start listening to other people, we tend to rely less and less on our gut instincts. We pay less attention to that built-in GPS system. Especially if what our guide is telling us to do goes against what everyone else thinks we should do.

We all have stories of times when we went against our instincts and things went horribly wrong. What we have to do is remember these instances when a similar event happens and we're about to do something we feel deep down that we're not supposed to do. It's important to exercise our instinctual powers. Really get in touch with our inner voice and get that connection to Source Energy or God back in fine working order. One of the best ways to do this of course is by spending some time actively seeking to repair the connection.

In the mornings I like to do Ah Meditation sessions for about 10 minutes or so. But, I've started to extend this time a little at the end and do what I like to call a "checking in" exercise. I check in with my core and make sure that all is well. How do I feel about the state of my life at this very moment? Are there areas that feel wrong, that don't fit with me? Are there things I'm doing that I know I shouldn't be doing? Am I happy with my life?

When I first started "checking in", I found that ego liked to come in and answer the questions for me. It liked to come up with excuses for any of the questions that I instinctively knew the answer to. But, the more I calmed my mind and quieted ego, the easier it got to repair that connection to Source, that invisible line going straight from my core, my center, to Source Energy. Now in my periods of checking in, the answers come immediately. I can't even say they come in the form of words but more as immediate feelings. My gut remains calm and peaceful whenever a question is asked and I'm living in its truth. If I ask myself a question and I'm not in a good space with that question, my gut lets me know in the form of a small yet palpable twisting feeling. Whenever I get that response, that lets me know that I'm dealing with an area that needs further investigation. It doesn't mean that I now have to berate myself and that I've done something wrong. This just means that it's time to look inward and seek for the answer, which is already there, at a deeper level.

To start repairing this connection to Source, or make the connection you already have even stronger, I do recommend doing the "checking in" exercise a couple of times a week. As always, I like to make things easy, because you know what I believe . . . if something is easy to do, the more likely you are to DO IT consistently. So, depending on how good your connection is, then that can determine the amount of time spent checking in. At first, like I said, ego might like to get in there and mess with you, so it could possibly take a little longer to get through the questions.

The questions are simple ones. You can come up with your own set but I usually start with these:

• How are you?
• How is your life?
• Are you happy?
• Is there anything troubling you?
• What is going right for you?
• Is there anything you'd like to see change?

These are just a few examples. It really helps to customize your questions to whatever is going on in your life at the moment. I like to do the checking in exercise before I undertake any new project, no matter how exciting or lucrative it might seem. Checking in with specific questions relating to the issue at hand really helps to clear my thoughts and get in touch with my gut instincts. If all my questions come back with a positive response and my core remains calm and relaxed and at peace, you better believe it, I'm going ahead with that project. It's that simple.

Spend some time checking in and see how your connection to Source will help to guide you in the right direction. The stronger the connection the easier it will be to immediately trust your inner voice. It is right. Every. Single. Time.

Peace and Light to you and KEEP DREAMING!

Gene-Manuel