Change Happens....It Is Happening Now

I have been clearing my "space" ever since my daughter left for college last year. I have been getting ready for change, more change. I knew it was coming and I was preparing myself. All this time I was feeling very grateful for everything that has come into my life. My daughter, my work, my relationships. But I knew these were all going to change. Being in touch with my inner self was turning out to be a really good thing

How do I do this? I practice yoga. I practice being in the present moment. I believe that everything happens for a reason and there are no bad things, just change. The new wants to present itself to you, but not if you are so caught up in the old patterns of your life. Clearing your house of unused, unwanted and unneeded junk is a great first step. I recently sold a bureau that I've had in my house since I was married. I moved it at least three times to keep it with me over the course of 15 years. What was I thinking? After I helped the new owner carry it to her car and watched her drive off, I couldn't wait to see what my bedroom now "felt" like with that gone. WOW! Space is a wonderful thing.

I just cleared out more of my office stuff. I came upon some yoga therapy journals I had purchased many years ago......Wait a minute, I guess I should tell you what happened yesterday........

I own a small, local janitorial service. I've been in business for 20 years. A very good business. It helped me raise my child and allowed me time to practice and teach yoga and continue my spiritual quest. Living in a small town, word of mouth was my only way to advertise. Pretty soon I had more than enough contracts to keep me going. I'm good at what I do. I started hiring employees about 10 years ago. Being able to keep people employed and pay them a livable wage was very important to me. However, I could no longer physically keep up with the cleaning myself, so I relied more and more on my employees. When my daughter left for school, I most certainly questioned whether this is what I should continue doing? So I started to clear my space. My physical space. My house. Making room for the new. I had a little idea what was coming when the economy started going south. However it didn't affect me at all. I still had stable businesses. A bank doesn't go out of business, right? I was wrong. In the span of two days, I lost 2 of my biggest clients. It wasn't the loss of income that bothered me the most. Remember I was gearing up for this on so many more levels. It was the unprofessional attitude of these companies that hurt the most. I had to keep reminding myself of the benefits of living in a small town where "everyone knows your name." But that didn't matter. No, the bank didn't go out of business. But banks get bought by bigger banks. And those bigger banks, in bigger states, where no one knows your name, decided to cut costs. That makes perfect sense to me. Again, it wasn't about loosing the contracts, it was about my reaction to loosing the contracts. At the end of the day yesterday, I was exhausted. Tired from having to keep reminding myself to stay in the present moment. To just keep open to what is presenting itself here today. I'll keep you posted on what develops, but in the meantime, I wanted to share something I found today while cleaning out my office. It's the Ten Steps To Freedom, and they make all the sense in the world, when you start using them.

1. Choose to become conscious and learn from life experiences rather than demanding to be a winner or a loser.
2. As emotional reactions arise to life encounters, take them to the body first to feel them, because the body is a more basic and honest barometer of reality than the mind.
3. Breathe, feel, expand, and express emotions appropriately as a vehicle for learning about yourself.
4. After releasing some of the initial charge of the emotion, play it back and look at the situation more objectively, as a witness, noting your core pattern.
5. Notice that this core pattern is part of a set of conditioned responses that replay themselves throughout your life. Review this pattern of conditioning.
6. See clearly that these patterns of conditioning were always formed with a positive intention, such as receiving love, feeling accepted, or avoiding pain. Therefore, there is no absolute guilt or shame involved in any past action and we can begin to release the weight of the past, which is analogous to laying down the cross.
7. Since our repetitive painful experiences all had the intention of revealing joy and happiness, there must be a source of joy that is intrinsic to life. This joy must be more primary than all of the forms of conditioning superimposed by culture, society, and family. I now use all of life's experiences and my emotional reactions to those experiences to reveal that Self of natural joy beyond conditioning. I reorient my life values and intentions toward this innate happiness rather than seeking it primarily from the "external world".
8. Because this joy is not conditioned and limited to my individual personality, it is therefore limitless and universal. The true Self is thus limitless and universal, and there is not separation between myself and any other aspect of creation.
9. Feelings and emotions are therefore all expressions of the Unity, whether they appear initially positive or negative. Positive emotions are reflections of Unity. Negative and painful feelings are pointers toward Unity.
10. I rest in the wholeness of life in each moment with all of life's experiences as expressions and reflections of the Unity that I AM.

These are pretty intense. So take just one that resonates with you and keep rereading it until it sinks deep. Use it as your mantra.

I am open today to continue to feel........Have a great day!