What We Live with We Learn

When we enter this world as babes, we bring with us two simple yet profound lifelong desires; to love and be loved. Everything else pales in comparison. We yearn for love and thrive in it. Experiencing love makes the world feel right. Yet growing up, we may have encounter people, situations, or events that left us feeling flawed, broken, or bound to a pain we cannot get free of. We may have carried this pain – these remnants of the past – with us throughout our lives, eventually making it our own. How?

What we live with we learn.
What we learn we practice,
What we practice we become,
What we become affects every aspect of our life.

Perhaps, like me, you were born with some physical or mental anomaly, which became the target of senseless teasing, causing you to shrink inside. Or maybe you grew up in a family with constant conflict, so you learned to either run from the world or fight it. Perhaps you were lonely and shy, but no one really knew, leaving you feeling invisible. Maybe you were berated or punished for being that highly active child – the one that met the world everyday with intense passion – leaving shame where joy should have been. Perhaps you felt the sting of an angry word, or an angry hand, one too many times, or were shown how you never quite measured up, so you never did. Maybe you were told your ideas were far too fanciful ever to come true, so you let your dreams die.

When we experience such things, a little part of us dies. How many little deaths have you suffered? How many little pieces of you got left behind under somebody’s foot? How can you reclaim what is rightfully yours and begin living the life you know is possible? By learning, practicing, and becoming anew.

To assist in releasing those old, self-limiting beliefs, and the fear that can stop you dead in your tracks, try this simple, yet powerful, three part process. I call this the 3 R's: Recognize, Refute, Replace.

First, recognize your negative thought that is keeping you bound to the past. Next, refute that thought as fallacy. Then, replace it with a statement of truth, one that empowers, inspires and supports the new you.

Here’s an example:

• Recognize the negative thought: I will never have the life I really want.
• Refute it as fallacy: This is not true! Cancel, clear that thought
• Replace it with an affirmative statement: I am creating the life I want with every thought I think.

To increase the power and effectiveness of your new statement, you must feel it. Feeling it seals the deal.

Try these simple steps:
1.Repeat your statement several times, breathing deeply between each repetition.
2.Continue until you feel an inner shift.
3.Keep breathing and notice the feeling that arises.
4.Send that feeling though every fiber of your being.
5.End by affirming, "And so it is."

When you feel that shift, you have laid in a new neuropathway within your brain. It is young and tender and needs a great deal of nurturing. So, if you find your old negative thought creeping back in (and the more persnickety ones often do), repeat this process until you have triumphed. Remember, it takes 28 days to cement a new neuropathway in the brain, so daily repetition is essential to make it stick.

The new truth you live by you will learn,
What you learn you will practice,
What you practice you will become,
And what you will become is nothing short of
Magnificent!
Feel the........LOVE!