August 2011 – Mikayal Aja

You Can’t Find What You Already Are

August 17, 2011 by mikayalaja_ccfz7c

There I was, looking for my glasses. I knew they were around since I had definitely taken them off in that room. At least I thought I had. But the more I looked, the more I began doubting and questioning. Maybe I had left them in the bathroom. So I went and checked there. Nope.

Are you groaning now, waiting for the punchline that I found them on the top of my head?

Well I’ve done that with sunglasses, but in this case it was actually much more ludicrous than that. I suddenly started hearing the song, “I can see clearly now…” And it dawned on me to wonder how I’m able to actually look for my glasses without needing to squint and bend down close to the places where I’m looking.

D’Oh! I’m wearing my glasses.

That’s a true story. It’s happened to me more than once, fortunately, not in quite a while!

It really does happen. If you wear glasses it’s probably happened to you once or twice!

It comes down to belief. In that moment, when I was searching for the glasses that were actually on my face, somehow the belief that I have misplaced my glasses is strong enough to make me overlook the reality that I can actually see – which means that what I’m looking for is actually right here.

Beliefs are extremely powerful, so powerful that they have the capacity to obscure and distort our “reality.” By now I’m sure you’ve heard the story of the indigenous people who were unable to “see” the three-masted schooners anchored in the bay. The possibility of that type of vessel existing was so far outside their belief system that reality actually distorted to make those ships invisible to them.

It was not until the Shaman of the tribe had meditated and done ceremony to expand his belief system and open up his vision to that possibility that the other members of the tribe were able to see the ships.

True Abundance is like that. You ARE True Abundance. That is your nature. It is all around you. It is within you. It is the very essence of who you are. But the belief that you are NOT True Abundance has you convinced that you have to go find it. So you look around, always looking, always seeking, never realizing that what you seek is actually right here, right now, within you.

That which you seek – Abundance, Joy, Love – is what you truly are. It is not out there somewhere for you to find. It is your essence.

You don’t find TRUE Abundance. You ARE TRUE Abundance. Rather, you remember it. Just as I didn’t “find” the glasses I was seeking, I came to realize or remember that I was actually wearing them, you can’t find what you are, you can only realize and remember it.

Take a moment to let go of the belief that abundance is something ‘Out There.” Let go of the idea that Abundance is something you attain. Open to the truth that abundance is something you ARE, right now. Yes, even in this moment. Even with your fears and doubts and worries, abundance is here, right now. Breathe it in.

Stepping into TRUE Abundance is as easy as “finding” the glasses that you’re already wearing. It is as simple as letting go of the belief that has you convinced that you can’t “see.” You can see. You can feel. You can KNOW and experience TRUE Abundance right now. All you have to do is believe. All you have to do is trust… All you have to do is remember that you are already “wearing” abundance.

Stop looking for it and start LIVING it. Start living as if you can see the abundance all around you. Start living as if you feel the abundance flowing through you. Start living as if you can recognize the abundance in every situation and all the people who come into your life. Start living as if there is nothing but abundance. For abundance is truly all there is. And you are truly abundant.

You are already wearing the glasses you seek. The lens of abundance is already in you. It IS you. Now go out and live your life of TRUE Abundance!

Your partner in TRUE Abundance

Edward

Lower Your Standards!

August 3, 2011 by mikayalaja_ccfz7c

Personal Development, TRUE Abundance

Inspiration, life lessons, Personal Development, Personal Growth

There’s a great story about the poet and teacher William Stafford. He’s recognized as one of the most prolific poets of recent times and during the last twenty or more years of his life he wrote at least one poem every day.

Yes… that’s one poem EVERY DAY!

And, much to the dismay of his poetry students at Lewis and Clark University, he assigned them the same “homework:” One poem a day for the entire semester!

I can just imagine the groans and complaints that followed that announcement. But when the students asked how it could be done, he replied simply, “Lower your standards.”

Perfection is An Abundance Killer!

Perfection is one of the most effective abundance killers! I should know, I’m a recovering perfectionist and I can look back and see all of the times that I have let my desire to be “perfect” get in the way of abundance.

When perfectionism takes over, nothing you do or create can ever be good enough. And if you don’t believe that anything you do or create is good enough it’s going to be awfully difficult to feel excited about sharing what you do with others.

And isn’t that what abundance is all about? In order to receive abundantly, you MUST be willing to share abundantly. Perfectionism breaks that cycle before you can even begin sharing! Not a great way to start your journey to TRUE Abundance

When I first heard that story about William Stafford, many years ago, I thought he must have been crazy! “Lower my standards?”

The thought of lowering my standards flies in the very face of my beloved and comfortable perfectionism. If I’m going to put something out in the world it had better be perfect. And, as far as my inner perfectionist is concerned, nothing will ever be perfect!

But see, there’s a key component to Stafford’s assignment that my inner perfectionist doesn’t quite get. Stafford never told his students to publish a poem a day. He told them only to write a poem a day, which is exactly what he did.

Crappy Is Good!

I bet if we could see some of his daily poems – the ones that did not get published – we would agree that many of them, perhaps most, were not so good. Some of them were probably pretty crappy! And I’m sure he’d agree with us as well.

But when you write a poem a day, you’ve got a lot to choose from. And out of those daily poems he found enough good ones to publish more than 50 books, one of which – Traveling Through the Dark – won the National Book Award for poetry. He was also awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship, a National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship and held the post which is now called the Poet Laureate of the United States.

Clearly there’s something to this idea of “lowering your standards.”

Would you like to know how many “unfinished” essays, stories, newsletter articles, course outlines and book chapters I have stashed away on my hard drive? I bet you would! But I’m not going to tell you! Suffice it to say that by lowering my standards, not a whole heck of a lot, I’d have a lot more stuff out in the world.

And what if someone, just one person, happened to read one of those “extra” blog posts or newsletter articles? And what if that article was exactly the thing she needed to hear at that moment? What if lowering my standards helped to change her life for the better?

Is it worth it? Is it worth the risk that I might publish a crappy article every now and then? Is the possibility of being of service to more people worth lowering my standards? You bet it is!

Are You Ready for What God Sends YOU?

And what about you? What “articles” do you have sitting on your hard drive? What creation of yours is waiting to see the light of day because it is not yet “perfect?” What if you lowered your standards? Just a tiny bit. Just enough to finish it and get it out into the world.

Here’s my hope and my challenge to you: Can you lower your standards? Just a bit? Can you look through your hard drive, or your closet or workshop? Can you dust off your chisels or brushes, get out your business plan or novel and reawaken your creative dreams? Can you lower your standards just enough to get those creations, those ideas, those dreams that are waiting inside of you, out into the light?

If you find yourself stuck in the process, wondering if it’s perfect enough, remember this line from the last poem William Stafford wrote on August 28, 1993, the day that he died:

“Be ready for what God sends.”

Indeed, be ready for what god sends, and be willing to let it come through you and out into the light.

I look forward to seeing more of your creations out in the world!

Monthly Archives: August 2011

You Can’t Find What You Already Are

Lower Your Standards!

Perfection is An Abundance Killer!

Crappy Is Good!

Are You Ready for What God Sends YOU?

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