Awaken the Genie Within

Watch Those Words

I listen intently to the words that people speak because it tells me instantly who's in charge; their Gremlin or Genie. Now I'm not one to say anything to someone about their Gremlin unless it's a client or a friend, but while going through my physical therapy session for my knee yesterday, I couldn't keep myself quiet any longer.

The assistant who helps my PT guy took over when his next patient showed up. I thought nothing of it until she kept saying things like, "Ooh, I hate this exercise. It's really hard." Or "This is one that a lot of people struggle with so don't get frustrated if you have a difficult time with it."

This went on with 3 different exercises until I finally said, "Please stop telling me how hard something is going to be. You may have a problem with this program but I don't."

She looked at me for a moment and then became very quiet. Yes, I felt bad and gently explained to her why her saying the things she kept saying was not doing me any good. She then shared with me that she wasn't offended by what I said to her. She became quiet because she was in deep thought about how she never realized it before, but she does this with clients all the time and how important it was to stop doing it.

She then explained how it's her tendency to look at her life in general this way. Everything's a struggle. Everything seems hard. Right then and there she declared to change. And she would start at work because she knew that would be easier and then work her way into her personal life.

I complimented her ability to hear what I said and not be offended and to take it a step further by making changes for the better with it. She was obviously ready for this next step in her life!

We moved on to the next exercise and she said, "This is a piece of cake. You'll do fine with this!" Then we had a good laugh.

Awareness

As I was walking away from my car heading toward the grocery store I heard one woman yell to another, "Mary, we're in row C!" The other woman yells back, "Okay, I'll meet you back at the car in 15 minutes."

Row C? What the heck was she talking about. There's no alphabet rows in this parking lot. As I scanned the lot I couldn't believe my eyes. Not only was there a row C but there was an A, B, D, E, and F! Looking back at my car I became of aware that I was in Row C, too!

I've been coming to this grocery store for 10 years and I have never noticed these signs. And because I pride myself on my awareness of what goes on around me, I actually found myself asking one of the people who works in the store about these signs. I was really struggling with the fact that I've never noticed them before and was hoping she'd say, "Oh yeah, they just put those up to make it easier for people to remember where they parked. Like at Disneyland."

The reality? She told me they've been there as long as she's been working at the store and that's been 13 years! You can imagine how much better that made me feel. Not!

So why am I sharing this little story with you? I guess it's because this experience made me realize how much we don't use all of our senses or our awareness to its fullest ability even when we think we are. It woke me up to the idea that if I missed those signs, how many other things am I missing that takes place around me. I know it's just a bunch of signs, but it's enough to make me want to be more awake as I move through my day and more present in each moment.

What I know for sure is the more present we are, the more awareness we have, not just externally but internally, and that's one of the best ways to continue to grow.

The best part of this experience for me? Now I can just look at the sign to easily remember where my car is!

Absolute Love

While waiting for my turn to see my eye Dr., a little boy, about 8 years old, was sitting across from me while his mother was in with the doctor. From the corner of my eye I saw him pick up his mom's cell phone and call someone.

I thought to myself, "Who could this child be calling?" Within seconds the answer revealed itself.

"Hi, Daddy! I was just thinking about you and wanted to say I love you. I miss you. When are you coming home from your trip? Okay. Well I love you forever and will hug you when you get home. Bye bye."

Being witness to that was almost more than I could stand. My heart was exploding with love and admiration for this little guy as my eyes were filling up quickly. The pureness and simplicity of expressing his love was just beautiful.

Children are our greatest teachers in unconditional love. There is no hidden agenda. No over thinking what to say, when to say it, where to say it or how to say it. It's love at its finest. And when the feeling of love came over him, he simply followed his heart. Nothing more and nothing less.

Excellence VS. Perfection

There are many people in the world who struggle with letting go of perfection. I was one of those people and when I finally learned to give it up I felt as though a 10 ton brick had been lifted off my shoulders.

The following was sent to me from one of my wonderful clients and I thought I'd share it with all of you.
Enjoy!

Excellence is willing to be wrong.
Perfection is being right.

Excellence is risk.
Perfection is fear.

Excellence is powerful.
Perfection is anger and frustration.

Excellence is spontaneous.
Perfection is control.

Excellence is confidence.
Perfection is pressure.

Excellence is journey.
Perfection is destination.

Strive for excellence and experience the wind at your back.

Being Ready To Contribute

I'm often asked about tithing and how much to give to charity and the obligation to contribute to society in some way, shape or form. My answer is really quite simply.

Until you are truly in a place of being ready to contribute something, whether it be money or a physical contribution don't do anything. Why? Because giving simply out of obligation creates more internal upset than relief.

I know there are tons of people out there who would chew my head off for this comment, but the bottom line, in my humble opinion, is we need to feel good about the contributions we make toward any cause we contribute to.

If your contribution is done out of fear or guilt, then you are not giving from the purity of your heart. There is no joy when contributing in this way. Everyone's circumstances are different and therefore not everyone will be ready to give back in ways that others say they should.

When you feel ready in your heart to contribute in a way that feels right for you, your contribution will have a much greater impact on both the giver and the receiver.

Embracing The "Enemy"

For the purpose of this post the word "Enemy" as used in the title is simply someone who challenges your beliefs, or pushes your buttons. It has nothing to do with the idea of war, violence or hate.

If you are only surrounded by people who wish you well and tell you how great you are, you are missing some profound opportunities in your life.

When an "enemy" appears on your radar, it's in those moments that you now have the chance to bring forth your inner strength and courage to stay true to yourself without needing to bring them down in return.

It's through your ability to stay in a place of grace and learning, when confronted with someone less than supportive of you, that you'll find yourself growing leaps and bounds. The Gremlin will drive you toward the road most traveled but your Genie will encourage you to take the road less traveled.

There are many gifts being offered by the "enemy" that stands before you and it's up to you to recognize those gifts, embrace them willingly and turn them into wonderful teachings.

Changing The World Or Your Perspective

I believe we live in a world of more goodness than not. Why? Because of the people I meet everyday that want to make a difference in the world. Who want to change the world for the betterment of humanity. I commend these people.

And, I also believe that sometimes there's an easier way to change some things in the world by simply changing our perspective. Doing this allows us to have a different experience, and then maybe, we won't feel the need to change what we originally thought needed changing.

Changing our perspective can be the difference between living in frustration or joy.

Here's some questions to consider, that with a change in perspective, just might change your whole world:

1. Are you struggling with money because your job doesn't pay enough or because you spend too much?
2. Do you struggle with relationships because people don't understand you or you find fault with others easily?
3. Do you need a bigger place to live or do you have too much junk?
4. Is it difficult to loose weight or do you eat anything you desire and not exercise?

Think about it. When you've come up with an honest answer you'll know what to do.

Growth Over Time

Considering how many years it's taken to instill the Gremlin mind, it's always interesting to me how people expect immediately results when wanting to turn that Gremlin mind into their Genie mind on a regular basis.

If it took you any where from 20-50 years to develop your Gremlin-like thinking, it's not unusual to take at least a year to quiet that thinking until you find yourself having more Genie-like thoughts on a regular basis.

It takes times to grow into your Genie thinking. And the time it takes is so worth the wait because the life you experience with this kind of thinking is truly one of tremendous joy.

I received an email about the growth of a certain bamboo plant and it occurred to me that the way the bamboo plant grows is similar to the way the Gremlin mind grows into the Genie mind.

There's a particular Bamboo plant that needs watering and nurturing every day to survive. It will grow about a foot in the first year and then as it's cared for every day for the next few years, there's no sign of growth.

But suddenly, just when you think it will no longer grow, it grows to 90 FEET in its 4th year!

Now here's the key to this growth. If you stop caring for it before this growth spurt, it will in fact die and you'll have to start all over again with a new plant.

The real shame here is you never really knew just how close you might have been to witnessing that growth spurt.

So like the bamboo plant, you must nurture your Genie mind every single day so it can grow to its full potential and prove to you how strong and magnificent it really is.

No Need To Yell

While speaking to someone at a social gathering, we witnessed a couple who we both knew, having a rather heated discussion. It got to a point where they had to leave. My friend said something to me that just melted my heart.

He said, "I don't ever remember yelling at my wife like that or even needing to raise my voice to her."

"Really." I said. "That's pretty remarkable coming from a guy who's been married 28 years."

His reply?

"Well, the way I see it, Jackie loves me more than any other person on the planet. And it's never her intention to purposely hurt me. So in the moment of things not being at their best, I simply remind myself of that and it allows me to stay as calm as I can. And, I know how much it would hurt her for me to yell at her for something she didn't do with malice."

His explanation just stopped me dead in my tracks and completely reframed my thinking when it comes to being in disagreement with someone I love or feeling hurt by them. It just made so much sense and gave me a deep belief that there really can be no need to yell.

I invite you to take what my friend said to heart, and see how you might be able to change your perspective, with your loved ones, during moments of less than blissful times.

Healing, It's a Process

Recently I've been given the gift of experiencing tendonitis of the knee. Now before I continue, I should let you know that when this first showed up I was less than thrilled and in no way felt it was a gift. The fact is, it cut into my walking and swimming a great deal and that just wasn't okay with me. However, I came to realize my unwillingness to stop exercising for a while caught up with me and made this whole knee issue worse. Yes, I can be as stubborn as the next person.

It wasn't until my physical therapist uttered the words, "Linda, you've got to just stop for a while. This is a process and it takes time to allow for the healing so you can be back at full capacity. And the fact is, if you give yourself the chance to heal and do the therapy without exercising or trying to rush the process, you'll be stronger than before the injury."

Who the heck did this guy think he was, my life coach or something! Actually, that's exactly who he became in my eyes at that moment. His words grabbed my attention profoundly and I instantly understood that no matter what the injury, physical, emotional or spiritual, rushing the process is never going to get us to full capacity and be stronger than before.

Healing takes time and the bottom line is it takes as long as it takes. And what I know for sure, is the sooner we embrace the process and do everything we can to assist the healing according to the Genie within and not the Gremlin, we'll be much better off.