Today's Affirmation

 

"Today I will listen to that still, small voice inside of me called my intuition.  Today I will let my intuition guide me."

 

We all have intuition.  Many people, however, simply just don't pay attention to it.  There are others who do pay attention to it.

 

We have intuition for a reason, and that reason is to help us navigate through the daily events that present themselves to us.

 

If we would just stop in our tracks each time our intuition kicked in and ask ourselves, "What is my intuition trying to tell me?" then we would have the advantage.

 

So, for today, let your intuition guide you.  Listen for that small voice inside, and follow what it is telling you. 

 

The more you pay attention to your intuition and follow its lead, the more it will develop and the more helpful it will become. 

 

Think of it as a muscle.  It is not a muscle, of course, but think of it as one.  The more one exercises the muscle, the stronger it becomes and the more capable it becomes of helping us.  With strong muscles, we can go farther, do more things.  Intuition is like this.  The more we exercise it, pay attention to it, the stronger it becomes, and the farther we can go.

 

Love and Light,

R-

Today's Affirmation:

 

When I accept the gifts of others, I enrich myself and allow them to be givers."

 

Yesterday I wrote about being a giver and giving too much, too much that we become depleted. 

 

Today it is all about receiving.  As givers, we sometimes forget that give and take are a balance.  We are so willing to give, but we have trouble receiving.  Why?  Maybe it is ingrained in us as children not to be selfish, and we think that if we receive, it is selfish.  Whatever the case, receiving is absolutely okay.

 

If we are going to be givers, then in order to maintain balance, we must also be receivers.  When we receive, we give others the opportunity to give.  It's perfect.

 

So next time someone offers you a gift, don't hesitate.  Just smile and say, "Thank you so much."  Or as my grandmother used to say, "You didn't have to do that, but I am glad you did!  Thank you."

 

Love and Light,

 

Robin

Today's Affirmation

 

Today I will set and patrol my personal boundaries.  I will not feel guilty when saying, "No."

 

Good morning, and happy Saturday!

 



 

It is so hard to say NO, especially to those whom we love.  But saying NO is sometimes the very best think that we can do for ourselves.

 

Those of us who are givers, give all the time, and those to whom we give often don't appreciate our giving and take for granted that we will always give because we have always given.

 

But giving can be exhausting.  Giving requires personal sacrifice-the sacrifice of time, of resources. of energy.  Even when we don't really have the time or the resources or the energy, we give anyway.

This unlimited giving puts us in deficit.  We know we are deficit, we feel deficient, we feel depleted, so why don't we just say, "No, I'm sorry, I would really like to, but right now, I just can't do it."  Why don't we just say, "It's not a good time for me right now."  Why don't we say, "I would like to help, but I know that you will find another way to get the job done."

 

We don't say any of these things because we feel that we can't let anyone down, that we don't want to disappoint anyone.  We have been trained since childhood to be givers, to be generous.  In my traditional Portuguese family, the more sacrifices one made, the more personal suffering one experienced, the more selfless one was, the more the door to heaven opened.  Silly really.  But I realize that today.  I didn't realize it years ago.

 

We give and give because we were never told that it is perfectly OK to have boundaries and limits.  We were never told that it is OK to say NO.  But I am telling you now, it IS OK to say NO.  It is OK to form hardfast boundaries and limitations and to patrol them and to stick by them.

 

We need to do this for no one else but ourselves.  We have value.  We have worth.  Our time is valuable, our resources are valuable, our energy is valuable.  We need to embrace the idea that WE are valuable to ourselves.

 

We need to take care of ourselves so that when are capable of giving, we can give without putting ourselves in deficit. 

 

Setting boundaries and limitations is not an easy thing to do, especially if we have never had them.  But we owe it to ourselves to draw a line and say, this is as far as I am willing to go.  This is as far as I will allow you to go.  Then we need to stick with it.

 

We shouldn't worry about what others say about it.  At first they will be caught by surprise because we have never said NO before, we have always been agreeable.  Eventually, however, as we change our behavior, and keep our boundaries and limitations in tact, they will begin to recognize them and perhaps ask less frequently.

 

Being true to ourselves, by saying NO once in a while, by setting boundaries and limitations, we are taking care of ourselves.  And let's face it, if we don't take care of ourselves, who else will take care of us in the way that we need taking care of?

 

So, dear friends, for today, practice saying, "Gee, I would really like to help you out, but I just can't do it today." AND stick with it-it may be hard to do at first, but I have faith in you!

 

In Love and Light,

Robin

 

 

 



Today's Affirmation

 

"Today I will preserve my energy, and do only what I am capable of doing.  I will not exceed the energy that I have."

 

 

Some days it's not about higher consciousness or self discovery or forging new pathways into the Universe.  Some days it is simply about making it through the day.  Today is one of those days for me.

 

My sole goal today is to just get through the day.  If you are with me on this, then this is what we need to do-the minimum.

 

Sometimes the minimum is only action to take because we are tired or overburdened or inundated with tasks.  All we can do is the best we can.  And there is no shame in that.

 

We have been raised and trained to be "superhumans"-to do everything and all things and to do it well and without complaint.  We have tons of people depending on us for all sorts of things, and most of the time, we are happy to comply.

 

But some days, we just don't have what it takes to live up to our superhuman persona.  Some days we just need to lay low, do what we can, and take care of ourselves.

 

So, if your goal today is just make it through the day, don't push yourself beyond the energy that you have.  Take some deep breaths, and tell yourself that all is well and ask the Universe to send you exactly what you need to make it through.

 

In the end, all will be well, and you can start again tomorrow-renewed, refreshed, rejuvenated.

 

Blessings to one and all,

R-

Today's Affirmation

 "Today, I will work toward simplifying my life."

 

Every once in a while it is important for us to do a little spring cleaning, not of our homes or garages or attics or basements, but of ourselves.

 

We need to open up the dark and cobwebby places and clean out those things that are cluttering our lives.  Well, just like house cleaning, it is easy for us to say, "I'll do it tomorrow or next week or next month."  But the longer we go without a good self spring cleaning, the more clutter accumulates.

Sometimes we need to take a good look at all the things that we are juggling in our lives and decide which of those things can go.  Henry David Thoreau wrote, "Simplify!  Simplify!  Simplify!"

We convince ourselves that every single pie we have our fingers in is absolutely necessary, that if we don't do it, then it won't get done.  We talk ourselves into responsibilities that are not ours (thanks to our good old fashioned, firmly ingrained work ethic).  We take on much more than is necessary. 

As a result, we become thinned out, stressed out, locked in, boxed in.  In Fellowship of the Ring by Tolkien, the character of Bilbo Baggins comments to Gandalf the Gray, "I feel stretched, thin, like butter over too much bread."  How perfect is this description!  That is exactly how it feels when we are overburdened!

It's a clue.  It is time to reevaluate what the heck we are doing and shave off the excess.  It is time to finally take care of ourselves and say, "No thank you" the next time someone asks if we would be willing to take on another project or another task.  And we shouldn't  feel guilty about it either. 

We all deserve a healthy and balanced life, and in order to move toward that health and balance, we need to make some decisions about what is absolutely necessary and what we can let go of.

So, for today, begin taking a good look and start your own personal self spring cleaning project.  You owe it to yourself!

In Love and Light,
Robin



 

 



Today's Affirmation:

"Today I will live with consciousness and awareness of my words, actions, and thoughts."

 

 

 Happy Wednesday!  It's the middle of the week and we are very close to a weekend.  Make the most of your day today.

 

Live with consciousness!

 

 

From my job on a high school campus, I hear the term "YOLO" frequently-You Only Live Once.  But this is only a justification for people to do what they want without regard for the consequences.  It is a carte blanche for not taking responsibility.

 

Of course this YOLO is a fallacy.  We live many times, each time learning that which we did not learn before, each time working toward bringing the scales of our lives back into balance.  It is all about the balance.

 

If we live with consciousness, and by this I mean with an awareness and deliberateness of our actions, thoughts, and behavior, then we would learn our lessons more quickly and the quality of our lives would improve.

 

Maybe we should change YOLO to YDOLO-You Don't Only Live Once.  Perhaps if we embraced the concept that we are always accountable, that consequences (and rewards) come to us across lifetimes, not just in one lifetime, then we would be more willing to be more careful of what we do and how we think.

 

For today, be conscious of every action you take, every word you speak, every thought you think.  Think ahead before you speak, before you act.  Recognize that all that you do will create a new rivulet of thought and action.

 

Here is a very small example of something that occurred yesterday to one of the young ladies that attends my high school.  One of her teachers told her that she (the teacher) could not be near her (the student) or speak with her because she smelled of smoke and it made her sick.

 

Was this entirely necessary??  What positive outcome was supposed to come of this?  This student was mortified by the teacher's behavior.  She was angry, she was embarrassed, she was shut out by an adult who should have been a role model and a mentor.

 

See what I mean?  This teacher (who should have known better) spoke these words, why?  Would it have cost her so much to take a different action?  So this small, almost seemingly insignificant remark, had huge impact on someone else's life.  It caused pain and anger and hurt.  Now the young woman is self consciousness, feels shut out of the instruction in the class because her teacher implied that she was not part of the group, she was a cast off, an outcast.  The teacher made herself unavailable to the student.  How much will that student learn in this class?  How much motivation will that student have to excel and to conquer the difficulty of the class?

 

I know what you are saying.  You are saying, "Get over it!"  You are saying, "Everybody's so sensitive, grow a thicker skin!"

 

Do you know why we say these things??  Because we don't want to take responsibility.  We feel we can hurt others and it is their problem and they have to deal with it.  But that is not the entire case, yes, we have a responsibility to self advocate and to communicate when things bother us, but we also have a responsibility to NOT go out of our way to cause others pain!

 

For today, live with consciousness.  Make an effort to see how your words and actions impact others.  Work toward creating balance, not imbalance.

 

In Love and Light,

R

 

 

 

 

 



Today's Affirmation

"Today, I will flow like a river around the rocks instead of trying to go through the rocks."

 

 

Sorry I missed you yesterday. "The best laid plans of mice of men..."  What I mean is that some things just don't turn out the way we expect.

 

When I woke up yesterday at my usual time, my expectation of the morning was as it is every other morning during the week.  Like many people, I have my morning routine and I like my morning routine. 

 

Then BAM a boomerang!  Totally threw off my entire morning.  BUT, instead of working against the events, struggling to manipulate the events, I just let it flow.

 

And although my morning was a great departure from what I usually do in the morning, by letting it flow out the way it needed to, I saved myself a lot of frustration.

 

There are times when it is far better to simply take on the nature of the river and flow around the rocks instead of trying to flow through the rocks-it never works out well when we try to flow through the rocks.

 

It's a matter of acceptance.  It is what it is and there it is. We can't change the events that happen in our lives, but we can change the way we view them.  By recognizing the "rocks" for what they are and accepting that the "rocks" aren't going anywhere, we can modify our own perspective and our own actions to account for the "rocks."

 

When we do this, we practice flexibility, and the more flexible we are, the more adaptable we are,  the more capable we become at managing the interruptions that periodically show themselves in our daily pattern.

 

Rivers will never flow upstream.  Rivers flow according to the layout of the land.  Rivers flow according to the path of least resistance.  And we, can learn something from this. 

 

I am not advocating complacency.  I am not advocating doing nothing.  What I am advocating is learning to recognize those things that we have no control over and training ourselves to work around them, like the river works around the rocks, instead of futilely trying to manipulate that which cannot be manipulated.

 

So, today, if rocks show up in your path, take a good look.  Ask yourself, "Are these rocks immoveable?  Are they something that I can flow around?"  If your answer is "yes," then be the river.  Flow with it and around it.

 

Have a day filled with peace and confidence.

 

In Love and Light,

R-