Tag Archives for " I am "

What I AM, a lesson in being from Popeye

“I am what I am, I’m Popeye the Sailor Man.” Could it be that simple?

Popeye the Sailor ManI hope you remember or know of the old cartoons, “Popeye The Sailor Man“? If not I suggest you watch a couple on YouTube so you will see what I’m talking about here. It is an entertaining way to get a huge life lesson, believing in yourself.  Yes, we can get personal growth from cartoons.

Something that happens on every episode is that Popeye goes from being lackluster and in an undesirable situation, to an energized, self-confident fireball taking care of business.

The analogy I see here with Popeye is that he transforms once he realizes who he really is and what he is capable of. Which is what we all can do.

When Popeye remembers who he really is, his arms bulge out, his eyes light up, is energy increases, he gets ideas that help him get out of a fix, he’s determined, and he gets things done fast . ..and he feels good about himself! . . . and he gets the girl!

When he knows who he is and what he is capable of, he does not hesitate, wonder, or ponder the fact, he just goes into action as if guided by a greater force. We all can do this! The people who KNOW that they are a certain way, can DO a certain thing, or even have something, just KNOW it!

There is no, “I wonder if?’ it’s just a matter of when. In our physical reality, there is a time lag, a gestation period between our thoughts and the experience. This is so that every little thought we have does not come out immediately in a physical form.

If this did occur, our life would be like that movie The Mask, where the character played by Jim Carey did physically enact everything heThe Mask thought, as he thought it. If our knowing and belief that we actually are a certain way is strong enough, the not experiencing of it in the now, is not enough to deter us or to allow doubts, fears and worries take over.

Knowing who and what you are is different that wondering and hoping . . . it’s a belief! And yes, it is a choice. The reason we may not be enjoying everything we desire in life is because we are not in total belief of it, we are in a state of hoping or wanting. When in hope and want, we are separating ourselves from what we desire. When we believe, we have total confidence in ourself, our abilities and our actions.

Believing in something, even if unseen, places it in the now – whereas wanting something places it in the future. There is actually only now, there is no future in reality, you can only experience something NOW. Thinking about something as in the future is really thinking that you want it in your now at some point. So until you bring it into now, it will always be in the future.

This can be tough to grasp, but it is the difference between actually experiencing something and wanting it. Most sages and now science say thatDetermined Popeye the only true reality is NOW. People who appear to be, do and have so easily are doing this, and they may not even be aware that they are. In their minds, they ARE the successful person, they HAVE lots of money, they CAN do certain things, even if they are not yet experiencing them!

So, with Popeye, is it the spinach? No, that’s just a metaphor for what it takes for him to wake up and realize who he really is. In reality, it’s our thought that does this. But just easy as it is to open a can of spinach and eat it, you can flip the switch on your thoughts.

One of the key ‘works’ of life is to come to the realization of who you truly are and what you are capable of, then to accept it completely with total faith, even before the related physical manifestation shows up. You must BE something in your belief before you will experience it.

On a personal level, this is what is meant by, I AM that I AM. It’s a declaration of self. Whatever you declare and believe yourself to be, do and have guides your experience in life. This is not just a wanting affirmation, it must be total belief. If your mind is saying, “yea, but” you do not believe!

Declare who you are, and believe it!

Striving For Happiness

“Happiness is the absence of the striving for happiness.” — Chuang-tzu

So what’s wrong with wanting happiness? Nothing, it’s normal for us to desire happiness, it’s a natural built in desire.

However, striving for it is another matter. When you focus on wanting anything, you are actually focusing on out lack of it. When you say or think, “I want”, you are also stating, “I don’t have . . . “. When you are continually looking for something, there is a reason. You only look when you don’t have it. When you state that you are not happy because . . . , you are claiming the unhappiness. Can you be happy while honestly claiming that you are not? No, can’t happen.

When you state that you will be happy when . . , or if . . ., you are also placing conditions on yourself. You are stating what has to happen in order to be happy, and many times exactly how you get there. If and when you do get or do something you decided would bring you happiness, the kind of happiness you feel is momentary. And if there are any delays or difficulties, this can bring on unhappiness because it appears to be keeping you from your stated happiness.

True happiness happens it’s not made. It happens when you feel satisfied in the moment. You can actually be happy right now in whatever circumstance you are in. When you decide that your happiness is not tied to anything specific, you are now allowing yourself to be happy at any time. Happiness will sometimes show up when you least expect it. It is very common for people to be happy while working very hard on something they want to accomplish.

Happiness is actually a choice. True happiness comes from knowing who you are and knowing that you deserve to be happy in any circumstance, not just in specific moments when the conditions are right. You are restricting your happiness when you declare that it only occur under certain conditions. The choice is to allow yourself unlimited, unrestricted happiness. Then you will notice more and more as you stop seeking it, as seeking or striving denotes it’s not there. . . so it’s not!

Consider this, with every thought and word you are stating, “I AM”. When striving for happiness you are actually saying, “I am not with happiness, so I must find it.” Happiness is already here, you just need to allow it to surface.

 

Create Your Identity Every Morning

                                                                                              
What do you want to be today?    
multiple happy smiles

Happy, joyful and pleasant, OR unhappy, miserable and crabby?

Will you expect good or will be expecting something to go wrong?              

 Will you feel confident in yourself or afraid you aren’t good enough?

 You get the idea here. The thing is, you can actually decide which way you will be. All of your attitudes and feelings are the result of a definition. Your definition of yourself. The key is, this is not set in stone – it is set in your mind. And you can change it. You can choose a new and different self definition if the one you are now holding does not fully support the life that you want.

Of course, you did not sit down one day and lay out your self definition . . but you can! What you think of yourself has developed gradually over the years with much of it being a result of interpretations you made about experiences you were involved in. Now you were not likely consciously aware of these interpretations either, most of them were done based on other past experiences a well. All of these interpretations build upon themselves and without realizing it you just believe it all as just being the way you are.

You can actually change they way you interpret things, as well as the way you see yourself. Your unconscious mind, which is where all the automatic thinking and reactions come from is really serving what it knows that you want. And at some point, you instructed the unconscious mind what you wanted. And it’s function is to serve you. Your unconscious mind acts on your behalf all the time, after all it keeps your body functioning without you having to pay it any attention. 

But there is a key fact with all of this. Your unconscious mind is not in charge – your conscious mind is. It may appear the other way around because so much seems to happen so automatically. The only way your unconscious mind knows what to do is from an order from the conscious mind. And your unconscious mind is very loyal and obedient. What you may have told it 25 years ago, it is still following as law. Your conscious mind is in charge. You can issue new commands to your unconscious obedient mind when you choose. The only catch is – that you must first know that you can. Well, now you know.

Now you can pay attention to what is happening automatically with your thought, your attitude, your perceptions – everything can be changed. You can decide which of these automatic functions serves you well in the way you want your life to be. You can rewrite the script for these thoughts and behaviors. Just because you have had a certain demeanor does not mean you are stuck with it. How do you want to carry yourself all day long? Your attitude? Your reactions? Your tone of voice with others? How you see everything?

Once you begin to notice characteristics about yourself, you can see which ones you like and which ones not so much fit your ideal way. Then, you can choose how you would rather heave it be. You can choose to be pleasant, happy, trusting, confident and more. And at the beginning of the day is a fine time to set things straight. In the morning, right after awaking from sleep, you can tell yourself what you will be like today. You can preset your disposition and your attitude. And know this will affect everything you do and experience. In this universe we are in, like attracts like – it’s a law.

You can declare, “I AM calm” “I am at peace.” “I am happy.” “I am confident.” “I am good with change.” “I am highly capable.” Now this may take a little while to take effect. It’s possible to change right away, but your unconscious programming may need a little coaxing to drop something it has operated with for many years. It will tend to fall back to the old ways in the beginning. But you, being in charge consciously, have the power to outlast your unconscious mind as long as you stay alert and diligent. I won’t say it’s not easy to fall back, it is, but you are stronger than your unconscious programming – you are in charge, consciously.

So, in the morning, set yourself up to be more like you want. Choose to be happy and joyous, and to treat people well – including yourself! Use affirmative statements repeatedly essentially to convince your unconscious of what you want, it will get the message and make the changes. Set the tone for yourself, and your day. You will be amazed at how much better things seem to go.

It’s your life, your mind – so take command, and choose.

John

 

July 24, 2008

Increase Happiness and Satisfaction Through Gratitude

Do you think happy people have more in their life to be happy about? Well, yes and no. They are happy about more things in their life because they focus on being thankful and grateful about more things in their life.

What you focus on expands. When more of your attention is on things that bring up good feelings more than bad feelings you will be much happier and less dissatisfied with daily life. It boils down to perspective. First, what are you looking at and how are you looking at it?

For example, you may feel that the home you live in no longer suits your wants and needs, so you focus on what you see as the negative aspects. And I’m sure you have noticed how easily your mind chatter will support your thinking about what you don’t like. This automatic feature of your mind will help to enhance whatever you think and feel – it does it so easily with dislikes.

But think a minute, isn’t there a lot about where you now live that you can appreciate and be thankful for? You do have a roof over your head, you are protected from the elements, you have running water, flush toilets, etc. Think for a moment, if you did not have this home? I think you‘ll see that there is really a lot about it that you can be grateful for. This is true of most everything in your life. If you are not sure, compare what you have and do against other people that have less. Think about your home, your clothes, your job, your possessions, your community, accessibility to what you want, how your basic needs are met, what IS going right, and so much more. There is always a good side.

Teach yourself to focus on anything and everything that you can no matter how minute you think it is and your happiness will increase. You can really only focus on one thing at a time, multitasking is when you bounce between different things more rapidly. But you can’t think about the good of something while thinking about the bad of it, always one or the other. To feel better and to send out the best signal, focus on the good. You can decide to be grateful for no specific reason, just for being alive and all that entails. This is actually a great base line for your life, your attitude, thinking, perceptions, health and behavior – grateful to be here, to be you.

If you have been thinking a lot about what you don’t like or want and you switch to fairly consistent gratitude, you will be amazed at how you feel. Your attitude, disposition and outlook will be much brighter, you may feel like you woke up on the ‘right’ side of the bed. Your body will respond positively too with more vitality, less stress and even some health improvements. The thing is, none of this is chance – the more thankful and grateful you are the better you will feel. You will be improving your happiness without even changing anything in your life except your perception.

Now you may be wondering what to do with all the new and different things you want in your life and I have talked about grateful for what you have. You need to do both. One of the ‘tricks’ in life is to find the fine line between two aspects of life, which we have an example of here with gratitude for what you have and thinking about what you want. Both are required for the most happiness and satisfaction in your life.

Where most of us fall into a trap is when we think it is logical to delineate what we don’t want, actually we just find it easy to complain about it since we have attached emotions that support our dislike. The key is this – you can express thanks for what you have and feel grateful for it, and want more at the same time.

What you shouldn’t do is, to repeatedly express your dislike for something and expect it to change. When continuously expounding on what you don’t want, you get more of it. Every thought you hold is an order to the universe – for what you want. To highlight how pointedly powerful each and every thought is, “I AM” in front of everything you are thinking and feeling. If you are thinking, “(I am) I hate my hair” you are what you want, just as an acorn is saying, “I am an oak tree.” The same forces that ensure the acorn develops as requested is working in your behalf in the same way.

Be grateful for your current situation, it got you here, it is a stepping stone on the path, there is something to learn or gain from it. If anything it is a clue to what you should not be doing, if you don’t like it. But rather than going on about not liking it, let it help you find what you do want.

Also, I am not suggesting using gratitude as a way to ignore anything that needs attention and action. You can be grateful for something and be working on changing or improving it. There is a big difference in thinking about something as you are working with it as opposed to thoughts dwelling on the negative aspects of it.

The bottom line is that there is something about anything that you can find to be grateful for. Sometimes this can be tricky to find and you may need to adjust your perception in order to see it. It could be a lesson or something that needs to be experienced for you or someone else. As you know by now some lessons and experiences can be painful. I just recently had to face this as my wife passed away three months ago.

If there is something in your life that you are having difficulty finding an aspect to be grateful for, don’t let it bog you down, just look at other things that you can be thankful for now. But if you can see the lesson, it is something to be grateful for, because now you know and can do something about it and grow from it. And that is worth being grateful for!

The more you do this, the more you will. Start with whatever you can and you will notice more and more to be grateful about. As you express gratitude for a few things your perceptions will change a little

Writing down what you are thankful for increases your commitment and increases it’s power, and sharing with others does so even more, plus others will benefit from it as well. To share your gratitude and/or the results of your increased gratitude with others, plus get some encouragement and insights reading what others write – go to the Gratitude Journal – see category list.

John

 

John Halderman writes and trains in personal growth and development focusing on what can be done daily to enhance your happiness and satisfaction with life through the understanding of how life works, managing your thoughts and purposeful actions.