the Bend Your Reality Project

photo credit: WTL photos

Whoa…It’s here.  2010.

If I had been told that 2009 would be a great year for me, I wouldn’t be have been surprised at all.

Okay, I would’ve been a little surprised.  2008 was an okay year for me; 2007 was wildly chaotic and I couldn’t wait to see the end of it.

But…2009 was wild in a good way.

The Good Stuff

1. I got a new job working at a massage therapy clinic.  And left my old job in a chiropractor’s office which was draining me.
2. I moved to Santa Monica, California.  Yay, I always wanted to live here.
3. I became certified by the state of California as a massage therapist.
4. I wrote an e-book (not available yet as I am going through the editing process).
5. I entered the National Novel Writing Contest 2009 (didn’t finish, but I managed to write through the 3oth day).
6. I became a ShivaNaut; I am doing Shiva Nata every day.
7. I became a licensed driver.  Hooray!
8. I began a programme to change through changing my handwriting.   Updates to come.
   
9. I finally got a bed to sleep on instead of a futon, an air mattress, the floor, or my massage table.
10. I started this website!  I post every Tuesday and Friday. Hopefully!
11. I learned how to create a website on the WordPress publishing platform.
12. I began Awakening Level 1 in the Holosync meditation programme.
    
13. I lost weight this year; I am now 8.3 stone (roughly about 116 lbs.)
    

The Bad Stuff

I didn’t leave my last job as gracefully as I would have liked.  Instead of telling him the truth; I was burnt out from working very long hours without lunch or a break.  I wanted to make a clean break from him and step into my new job which I had the option of going full-time.

I had to take money out of my savings in order to afford the move into Santa Monica, California.  So now I have to rebuild my savings.  Not from scratch, but I do have to rebuild it.

I chose to let go of some very painful relationships, including that of a once dear friend.  I chose to let go of these relationships because I had grown away from these friends (and, in some cases, family) and being with people whom I had nothing in common with was painfully toxic.

What I Learned

I learned that mistakes are more than okay.  In fact, they are necessary to growing, expanding, and exploring.

I learned to like myself the way I am.  As I am.

I learned that I am not the grudge-holding, critical, judgmental person my mini-me (my conscious mind) has always told me I was.  I am patient, and it takes me longer to get truly annoyed with people and situations than I thought.

I learned I am more open and flexible than I had once thought possible.

What’s All of This Mean?

Through all the bad parts and good parts,  I changed alot.  I grew alot.  I took alot of risks.  I made alot of mistakes.  I use the word alot, alot. At least right here I do.

The point here is:  I was willing to turn up.  Sometimes the results I desired exceeded my expectations.  Sometimes they didn’t; in which case, I tried a new approach and watched the results.

Now you… what was your 2009 like?  Was it a great year for you?  A bad year?  Either way, what did you learn?

Vibelicious comments:  what did you learn from 2009?

Kind and loving comments appreciated.  Rude, mean comments will be deleted no exceptions!

Related Posts:

• 5 Creative Things for the New Year
• The Passion Test
• Engage Your Heart ~ Live In Your Discomfort Zone
• Get Curious About You
• the Gift of Anger

photo credit: rappensuncle

We’ve all heard the old point of view about bragging: don’t!  More often than not, people view bragging as self-aggrandising.  We are supposed to wait for other people to bestow upon us the labels of: smart, beautiful, genius, creative, or good at something.

Well, bullocks to that! I say.

Why wait for other people to brag about your wonderful qualities?  Why not be your own best fan, and proclaim your gifts and talents to the skies?

No, I’m not suggesting we all become bores who monopolise entire conversations talking about the mundane in our lives in excruciating detail. I am talking about being okay with bragging about the value you bring to others and the world.

What got me started on this line of thinking was an unrelated post by Sparking Firepants (go here).  The post was  about focusing our energies on our right peoplehood.  This led me to an interview with Sara Bray (go here).  Which led me to her website which has a page called Bragging Rights.

Some part of me said,  Damn right! I wish we all could feel comfortable about sharing our gifts with the world, proclaiming our talents and genius; and modelling our superstar selves to the world.

I’m not interested in writing about the ills of society.  What does interest me is proclaiming what I have to offer to the world so my peoplehood can find me.

So what are my bragging rights?

I am an excellent massage therapist/bodworker.  I am great at deep tissue work.  And I am especially good at helping shoulders and backs heal.

My clients come to me for all of my technical knowledge about muscles, bones, and nerves.  They feel they are in very capable hands when they come to me after a shoulder or back injury; they entrust their bodies to me.  This is my superstar superpower.  This is how I spend my magick freaky deakey dust all over the world.

What about you?

What do you hide that you could be accepting bragging rights about?

Share your insights.

Peace & Healing, fellow travelers.

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photo credit: TheAlieness GiselaGiardino²³

It’s November again; the year seems to have drifted by so quickly. Ordinarily, this time of year finds me plucking away, nose to grindstone at my massage therapy job. Usually, the months of November is quite uneventful; this year I’m doing something different.

I’m writing a novel in thirty days through the non-profit organisation, the National Novel Writing Contest (go here to find out how you can become involved.)

You read correctly. I am writing a 50,000 word novel that is going to be completed by November 30.
Why am I doing this? And how?

Let me answer the first question. I am doing this to expand my mind and to grow. Also, I have always wanted to write another novel. I wrote my first novel when I was about thirteen or fourteen.

What stopped me before were my limiting thoughts of hyper-perfection. Meaning that, I compared my hatchling novel to the great masterpieces of established authors.  What I didn’t see was that those writers’ works were edited; I never read their rough drafts.

Secondly, how? As I have mentioned above I signed up at the National Novel Writing Contest [dot] org.

About NaNoWriCo

NaNoWriCo is an exciting and fun contest that begins on November 1. The goal of each participant is to write an 175 page novel by midnight November 30.

Who NaNoWriCo is for?

NaNoWriCo is for people who have always longed to write an novel but never did do because they lacked support or just scared away by the prospect.

The point of the thirty day deadline is to inspire quantity over quality. And lower the participants expectations and motivate them to take risks. December is for editing the novel, if you desire to do so.

Of course, you will write alot of rubbish. But that’s okay; it’s part of the process. You’re supposed to make mistakes, and open up your mind so you can learn.

In addition, it’s very reassuring to know that, all around the world, other new novelists are facing the same excitment and challenges as you are. You are not alone. There’s even a forum for the NaNoWriCo novelists to connect with others in their times of challenge and opportunity.

How NaNoWrico works?

The process is simple.

1). You sign up at NaNoWriCo [dot] org.
2) Read the email from the website.
3). Log into your account, and set your preferences ( set your time zone, affiliate yourself with a region, and create your author bio.
4). Read all the writing tips that can help you get started.
5). On November 1, begin writing your novel.
6). Update your word count as often as you like. The word count box is at the top of the page near the login link.
7). On November 30, you upload the novel for verification of word count. At that time, you will be added to the hallowed winner’s page, and receive a winner’s certificate and badge. The upload process will be published in mid-November.

I must admit that starting that novel was more scary than exciting.

First, I couldn’t think of a story to write. Then I had far too many ideas for my novel. And I had far too many questions.
In the end, I chose to write a novel that would be fun; that I wouldn’t take seriously; that I could learn alot writing without getting overly attached to the outcome.

With this criteria, I began writing on November 3. It’s still too soon to tell what the outcome will be. Or how the story will end. But I don’t much care. All that matters to me now is to complete the novel by November 30, and inner growth. Any other outcome would be wonderful, but not necessary.

Win or lose is beside the point. I believe that I am a superstar for even embarking on the journey.

What’s my novel about?

I’m writing a fantasy novel for young adults involving fairies, wizards, and demons; some of my favourite supernaturals.

I’m looking forward to finding out what the story is about, because I have no idea. I started writing with the first scene that came to mind, and the words, ‘It was a dark and stormy night.’ Ha, ha!

I’ll keep you posted, fellow travelers, on my progress as I write a novel.

As I come to the end of this post, I wonder who I will be once I complete the novel? What will the world look like to me then? What will I look like to me when I finish?

I leave you, fellow travelers, with a question:

What have you always wanted to do that you have felt too scared to do? Could you devote November to taking steps towards that vision?

Share your insights!

Peace & Healing, fellow travelers!

Related Posts:

• Get Curious About You
• Embracing Your Shadow Self
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• The Passion Test
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photo credit: seanmcgrath

As I was riding the bus this morning, lost in thought, I suddenly remembered a picture I had seen once called Snake Eyes (with Nicolas Cage); it’s the oft-told story of a corrupt cop who has a change of heart once he becomes entangled in a conspiracy to commit murder.

I was reminded that, at the end of the film, Cage’s character’s life into ruin despite the fact that he had chosen to do the right thing.

The correlation I made to my own spiritual journey through life was that, more often than not, when we change even a little bit of ourselves our lives usually will look like a mess to us and to everyone around us.

It’s virtually impossible to keep your reality the same while changing yourself. I have made hundreds of futile attempts to do so. All of them have been in vain. No matter how hard we try, we can’t reach for new possibilities and hold on to what we have for dear life.

So what can we do?

Surrender.

I define surrender as remaining present with your feelings and emotions in the present.  Right where you are now.  It is a process, not a destination.  It’s allowing what going on inside you mentally, emotionally, physically, and spiritually to okay without the need to judge whether your feelings, thoughts, actions are socially appropriate to others.

Is this easy?  Of course not.  Surrendering to the present isn’t easy at all.  Each and every day I choose to work on it.  I never surrender perfectly (if such a thing is possible).  And that isn’t important anyway.

What is important is allowing yourself to feel what you feel in the moment regardless of whether or not you, or others around you, like it.

Once you are able to be where you are when you are, you open yourself up to becoming more mindful; with mindfulness comes the ability to let go of things that no longer work, and move forwards towards things that are good for you.

Here are a few tips for surrendering to the now:

1). Get out in to nature. Being able to opt-out of your current reality for even a few minutes a day could help you de-stress enough to think more clearly.

2). Have fun. Every once in a while, step off the treadmill that is reality, and have some fun.  See a funny film.  Have a giggle with friends.  Do something you enjoy for at least ten minutes a day.

3). Be with people you love. If you are going to spend eight hours plus a day with people you really have no connection with, it’s important to balance that with time spent with people you do have a connection with.

4). Don’t take reality or yourself so seriously. This is a difficult one to do consistently.  I admit that I have challenges with this.  Sometimes I am just too angry or hurt to laugh.  Or sometimes I find myself buying into the illusion that I am a helpless victim of life, and must accept what little I get and be grateful for it.  Such perceptions can be grim indeed.  But remembering that nothing is permanent in this world keeps me from sinking into a morass of self-pity.

With the suggestions above, I can go with the flow more.  Be open.  And allow the Creative Force and time to work with me and for me.  Instead of against me.  I have the freedom to surrender, knowing that tomorrow brings with it the opportunity for new choices, new possibilities that did not exist before.  That is something that both and inspires and motivates me to keep trudging forward even when things appear bleak or scary.

How about you?

What changes have you resisted?  And what occurred when you allowed yourself to surrender and “go with the flow?” How do your reality change afterward?

Feel free to share your insights.

Peace & Healing, fellow travelers!

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