Tuesday, August 18, 2009

The Economy of Self Esteem

Hello Everyone,

I spend a lot of time noticing people, behavior, money and time. In 'this economy' It's the catch phrase these days, so I have to use it for Googling purposes. But people seem to be working harder and faster, taking on more and more with a sense of desperation.

Perhaps they're fueled by the idea that the unemployment benefits are going to run out; or they have to find that job, right now; or I've only got a certain amount of severance, so I've got to launch this business pronto. Always we are thinking there's not enough - for me.

It's precisely thinking like this that got us into this recession in the first place. No where else on Earth, save the UK, maybe, do people work so hard and so long for so little. It defies logic and common sense. I wonder how much we make per hour as a nation. Now there's a question. If we added up the earnings of everyone in the US, then added up the hours worked and divided that into the earnings, what would we be making per hour? I can assure you it would be a pittance compared to our True Value.

This of course doesn't even take into account the "j" factor - you know, J.O.Y. Now, let's ask that question: how many of us really LOVE what we're doing? Preposterous!

We've got it all backwards, because we think the harder we work the more money we will make.

Forget the penalty in stress paid by the body. We work for those benefits, after all. We stick at jobs we hate, damaging our physicality so we can cash in on those benefits when we have that stroke, the heart attack or get the big "C" - which by the way we wouldn't have if we'd spent our days in joy.

How the heck did we get here?

I'd like to say it was a big conspiracy, but we all went along willingly like lambs to slaughter buying into the "American Dream" that the marketers were selling on behalf of the Banks, the HMO's, the insurance companies, and the pharmaceuticals.

They package it up real pretty and sell it; we buy it lock, stock and barrel. We should have that McMansion, those cars, these clothes, this gadget and that particular widget. Then we'll feel like we've made it; we've arrived - then there will be material proof that we're good enough - at last.

Hamsters on the wheel, we are. Hamsters on the wheel.

What fuels this? Why could they sell us this crock?

We have a national deficit, but it's not cash. It is a national deficit of personal and individual self-esteem.

We are poor in Spirit. We are poor in Who We Really Are. We don't know our own value, our own worth, and we do not trust our own internal thought processes as valid. We don't think for ourselves, we don't question the premise, and we think they know more than we do.

In the old days, I think they called it Common Sense. Today, we've all but abdicated our personal sense of what's a right and appropriate response to life. We trust 'them' to tell us what to watch on TV, what to wear, what to eat, what drugs to ask for at the doctor's, what symptoms to have, what beauty is, what to think about the 'news', and we do it it all. We follow so well.

Nothing will change until we remember and value above all else, Who We Really Are - individually - you and me.

When we truly trust our responses to life as right and appropriate; when we value ourselves, our opinions, our time, our talents, our very being as the precious and beautifully unique thing that it is - then, folks, the economy of our nation will thrive, because we individually are thriving.

Only we can do this. Only you and I can begin the transformation of poor self esteem into one of personal high regard and respect. This is our job.

Then, one day, in the midst of our work day, we will stop at least once and say, "I cannot believe they pay me to do this! I love my work."

Imagine this.

Thanks for reading!

Kath

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Tuesday, January 22, 2008

What Is Stress?

Good Day Everyone!

After all the news today about the economy, I thought I might talk about stress as a timely issue.
Then this evening I saw this article about how stress in the work place can do nasty things for you.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080123/hl_nm/heart_stress_dc

Stress is when we tense up. We hold our breath. We resist what we are seeing, hearing, perceiving. I think Jesus taught us to "resist not" evil? Hmmm

The key factor here is our internal response. It is always a fear response. We name it many things: overwhelm, panic, worry, indecision, but it is always a fear. We do this instantaneously as an automatic response to our operating beliefs. (I think Jesus also said, "Fear Not"?)

We believe we cannot rise to the situation. We may believe that there is not enough: time, money, love, opportunity, or we are not enough. We may believe that what we are seeing or hearing is "bad" news. The doctor delivers a diagnosis. The judge returns a verdict. The boss delivers a deadline or ultimatum. The bank account says we can't afford it. You child's teacher calls. You child doesn't call. Ad infinitum.

Obviously the work place is not the only place we have experiences that we respond to with stress: again, tensing up, shallow breathing, resistance, as a result of a fearful, lackful response. It happens to us many times within a day.

When I was in Hawaii learning Huna, the Ancient Hawaiian Religion, I was told this story:

When the first explorers found the Hawaiian Islands, they didn't know where they were geographically. That is to say, they had no idea the name of these islands. So they went from island to island asking this question of the natives, "Where do you live?" The native Hawaiians all responded with the same answer, "Hawaii". So the explorers assumed that the name of the islands was Hawaii. However, the Hawaiin language is an encoded language. Each syllable means an entire phrase. What the Hawaiians were really saying was, "I live on the Life Force that is carried on my breath." "Ha" meaning breath. So it follows that when the white man established himself on the Hawaiian Island, they became known to the natives as "hale", which means, "he without breath". Even back then, we weren't breathing much.

You see the Hawaiians performed deep "haka" breathing before they did anything. They breathed before play, before fishing, before making love. If you have every watched rugby, you can see a form of haka breathing done by the New Zealand rugby team, the All Blacks. It's amazing. (www.allblacks.com). The Hawaiians could so summon their Life Force that they could flow the tides. (I have seen it done.)

Now depending on who you talk to, they are raising their adrenalin levels, they are focusing their energy, they are getting centered. And all would be correct. This is where applied spirituality is literally demonstrated. They are deliberately focusing their Life Force. By breathing IN and opening their internal state, they laser focus their Spirit, their Energy, their Godchips. The All Blacks win a lot.

The point is that they breathe, they do not stop breathing. The relax, not tense up. They do all this deliberately.

A tensing reaction to anything causes you to shallow your breathing. This restricts the flow of Life Force, the vital energies that define you as alive. Like in any situation of "restriction," friction is the result, and when friction takes place, heat is created (oxidation) and inflammation results. This is why we are being told the benefits of antioxidants, to counteract the damage of free radicals which is sort of like rust, the free radicals are the result of all this tensing up. All this, because we are automatically afraid because we believe we are not enough, not able to meet the demand. We believe, we are alone and separated from our Good.

During the past 6 years Americans have been fed a steady diet of fear via the medial and news makers. We are now told many times a day all the things we have to be afraid of: terrorism, oil shortages, the economy; global warming, even my stupid weather alerts are of a tone that makes me think I should have put in a storm cellar. We are always on red alert for something. The food we eat. The people we date. The air we breathe. The love we have or don't have. Ahoogah! Dive! Dive!

What to do?

Breathe.

Why breathe? Because as the ancient Hawaiians knew, we LIVE on the Life Force that's carried on our breath. This is the vehicle that carries us back Home to Well Being (our natural state) when we've stepped out of the flow of Life.

The news makers and tellers would have us believe the ultimate worst at any given time. It's hype. It's the tone. It's dire. It's only to sell today's paper. Tomorrow it will be something else.

Haven't we learned by now that "this too shall pass"? The idea is to not get "hooked" on it as it's passing. I used to do some white water rafting when I lived in Montana. My friend would point out to me huge logs or trees that were downed in the river by beavers (who by the way are always in well being). These were called sweepers. Sweepers hook a lot of debris as it floats down the river and are very dangerous. We were to avoid sweepers at all costs.

Avoid the sweepers. They are logs in the Flow of Life. They are temptations to get pulled off your course of Well Being and into chaos and fear. There are infinite number of sweepers waiting to hook you. Jesus, it is said, spent 40 days in the desert confronting all manner of temptations. This is exactly what this "human mind stuff" is. Just that. Temptation to derail you from your focused path of Well Being , which is joyously creating.

"Look over here, here's a problem". When you refocus onto "that problem" you are no longer focusing on your creation. And sorry folks, we are single focus beings, despite what they tell you about multi-tasking. If we truly want to create, we need to be in the Zone with pure positive focus.

Ok. So back to your ordinary day. You have a plan. You have a focus. And then - TEMPTATION STRIKES. A troubling story, a bad boss, a lousy thought. You could go there, which most of us do, and do the whole "stress" response.

Or - you could say to yourself, "That feels rotten. I'm going to breathe. I'm refocusing on what I chose to focus on, and that which makes me feel good." It's free will. That's where it's practiced; right in that very moment. Right Now.

You can choose "human mind" fearful, lackful, distracting thoughts - or - you can breathe IN, connect to your Godchip and get back to creating.....or co-creating...

Practice. Practice. Practice.

It takes being aware of how you are feeling at any given moment. This is self mastery.
This is, simply put, what Jesus, Buddha, Krishna, and Mohammad achieved while in the body, and so can you, as well.

You'll feel better. You'll function better. You'll enjoy the day more. And best of all, you'll be creating your own reality and good health as well. Happiness is your birthright. Wellness is your natural state. The only thing separating you from all your Good (that being a noun) is your choice to be sidetracked by the temptation out of well being.

Invictus
by William E Henley

"I AM the master of my fate. I AM the captain of my soul."

(check out the I AM.....)

Thanks for reading!


Kath

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