Opening the Closet Door to My Feelings

On my ongoing journey to self-awareness and inner healing, I've learned that feelings need to be felt and acknowledged, shame has to be worked out and released, and guilt is a useless and self-defeating emotion.

In the past I had read about these concepts, yet, reading about them and working with them were two different things.

In the You University Life Coach Training program I learned one of the most in-depth exercises and tools for healing my inner child. It was about writing "my story".  It required I go back to the ages of 7, 14, 21 in stages of 7 years until the present and feel my feelings as if I was there at that time.

This process took me a while (there was a part of me resistant to this work), doing much probing and self-inquiry; it took courage and willingness to look at many painful, repressed memories.  Today I would compare this process to opening a closet door that's been closed for many years--a closet filled with a lot of "very old stuff", and finally going through the "stuff", choosing to keep only what is of value while letting go what doesn't serve anymore.

This process was very healing and I still use it whenever anxious or fearful thoughts and feelings spring up inside me.  I sit with my feelings, I observe them, and I can say:  "aaahhh, this thought is coming from that closet again" and simply, let it be.  I ask myself....is this thought really true? 

Opening that closed closet door and allowing the old stuff to come into the Light brings me to a peaceful inner state each and every time.  

The Importance of Having A Caring Support System

Having a caring support system is priceless.

It's a true blessing to have one or two really good friends to confide in and be vulnerable with knowing you'll be heard, supported and not judged.

I have friends I can count on when experiencing challenges and feel  I need support or honest feedback.  Some are close by while others are thousands of miles away.  Yet, through the internet or phone we connect and nurture each other.

I am also blessed to be part of a wonderful online group whose members are YOU University life coaches; on our weekly calls we join to share what's going on in our outer and inner lives.  We support each other as we listen with an open heart and mind to happy, joyful and many times sad and painful events any of us may be experiencing.  At the end of each call we all feel empowered, relieved and connected.

Whether it's a close relative, friend, coach or support group, there are times we all need that loving support to hold our hand during a tough challenge or to celebrate our breakthroughs!

God Has Given Me Everything

God Has Given Me Everything!  What a statement!  This is what A Course in Miracles says about God and me and you!

The Course also states that I am everything and I have everything.  Yet this has not been my experience here in life.  It seems like I am always striving to get somewhere, to be something more and better than what I am because I'm not enough.

When I read these sentences a few days ago I had to stop and allow them to sink into my mind.  How can this concept be so alien to what I've lived so far?  How can I live from this new paradigm and allow myself to believe that I AM THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN, that I AM EVERYTHING, that I HAVE EVERYTHING?  How does this look like in real life?

Let me imagine it for a moment:  I have everything and I am everything.  Hmmm....I have no needs, nothing can be taken away, I cannot lose anything, all is well and perfect just as it is.  No striving, no comparisons, no competition, NO FEAR!!!  NO LACK!!!  This also means that I am Love, Peace, Joy....I am just fine!  I can give to others of my time, my love, my abundance in all ways and the more I give the more of all this I experience.

Oh God, it feels joyful, peaceful, wonderful.

This is my intention now, to live out this principle as best as I can.  It will be a moment to moment choice as I meet Life in all its ways and challenges.  I will remember this is the truth of who I am and the truth also of everyone I meet, my friends, family, clients, strangers (and will ask my Higher Self for help when I seem to forget) .  God has given all to all of us.  God makes absolutely no exceptions. We are truly loved!