The New Dance of Commitment

Posted on January 22, 2012 by Trish

“Unless commitment is made, there are only promises and hopes; but no plans.”

~Peter F. Drucker

During the summer months, Paul and I were out one evening talking (Paul’s my husband for those who don’t know). During that conversation he said something to me and I could see how it ‘locked in’ for him. Within a few short weeks he had completely changed the trajectory of his life and what he was doing, and I knew that that moment he locked in was the tipping point for all the change he had manifested.

It’s awesome to see, that moment when someone commits themselves fully either to a course of action (that is what I want to do) or to the avoidance of further action (I refuse to do/be this anymore). Both are powerful forces of change once the commitment is made. I’ve known this commitment, have engaged in in many times and I have an inherent sense of the forces that come into play, momentum for lack of a better word, once that commitment is locked in.

As an aside, in case you’re not sure what I mean by locked in, it’s when the commitment is so fundamental, literally at the cellular level, that you can almost see the body shift in response to it. Whenever I’ve made an absolute commitment to something, or someone, it feels as if there’s a core of steel that locks into my spine and the rest of my body comes into alignment around it. You can also start to feel the first stirrings of Universal energies coming into alignment, like a shifting of the wind where all of the ingredients you need to make your commitment manifest start to show up in an astoundingly short period of time and you can even find yourself feeling like you’re riding the tide rather than in any way in control of the changes you’ve wrought.

Now I’ve decided to commit to something very important to me. However, as I started to marshal the energies to lock in around it, the process shifted on me and took me in a very different direction. I’ll try to explain what happened here, it’s still early days on this process for me, but I felt compelled to share it as I know the energy of 2012 is very momentum and movement oriented, hence many of you are getting ready to commit to things right now and I wanted you to have the option to try this approach:

The old way…

If you think back to the way you used to commit, as I’ve mentioned, it was very much self-powered. YOU made a decision, YOU locked in, essentially lighting the fuse for the momentum that would then carry you towards your committed path. All great and good, and the feeling you get from this process is very empowering. Make no mistake, using this approach, you were, in fact, creating shifts in the Universe to bring to you exactly what you’d committed to – the proof is in your results. However, I started to question a few things:

What if your approach was limiting. Was your commitment as ‘big’ as it could have been or was it merely a means to shift out of where you were into something different?
Using this approach, once you commit, you feel very much like a locomotive building and creating extraordinary momentum, but are you truly enjoying the ride or are you completely focused on the process of ‘getting there’, of seeing your commitment made manifest?

The new way…

Many of you reading this have been on your journey. You know, the journey that has fundamentally stripped away everything that you were to make room so you could step fully into everything you are meant to be, yeah…that journey. Not exactly fun (not even close), but I believe the brunt of it has passed. The ‘new you’ now has to learn some new tools and this Dance of Commitment is one of many you have the choice to embrace.

As a result of your journey you’re a different being. Literally. You are not what you were. You’ve embraced the idea that you are more. It’s time to start understanding what that means and to start actively embracing it. In this case, it means that you have a Universe full of energy at your disposal. Why not use it. It’s there, and it’s infinite. You can’t deplete it, in fact, the more you use it, the more you contribute to it. The Dance of Commitment, in a nutshell, is a conscious choice to leverage that power. Think of your emotions and body as a beacon rather than the tool.You have the ability to quickly and easily mobilize the energy of your commitment, but then, rather than depending solely on the energy you can personally generate, you’re actively sending the energy of your commitment out and literally permeating the air with your intent.

If you’re struggling a bit here with the difference between the two processes, here it is:

With the old approach you carried the load of powering the change you created.

With the new approach you are consciously allowing, and giving carte blanche power to, the Universe to carry the load of powering the change you are creating.

Which approach do you think is more powerful?

Which approach do you think might be a wee bit easier on you and your body?

You haven’t gone through this journey for the sole purpose to continue to suffer and ‘do it alone’. This tool provides you not only with ease of access to an infinite power source, but it also allows you to sit back, relax a bit, perhaps enjoy the journey???. The process of locking in, as empowering as it may be, is hard on the body. You’re literally holding the energy of your intended change inside of your physical body and building momentum from the inside out. With you engage in the Dance of Commitment with the Universe, you can allow your body to relax while the momentum is built by energies outside of you, that are actively working for you, based on your intention. Specifically, this means it does not require your active energy input beyond getting the commitment/intention out there. I’m calling it a Dance because you’re engaging in an actively intimate exchange of energy between you and the Universe. A Dance should be fun and engaging. It should allow you to get out of your head (ahem!) while at the same time trusting your partner to move with you through the intricate steps of your Dance (think flexibility on your part and being open to more). I think you’ll be amazed at what shows up!

Rather than describing my experience, I’m going to give you a bit of a step-by-step instead as it came to me that this is, in fact, a tool that we can choose to embrace, hence you should probably know how to use it.

I recommend being very comfortable and quiet for this process, ideally without interruption. Give yourself a good hour, though it won’t take quite that long.

Be crystal clear. Make the essence (definition, decision, etc.) of the commitment absolute in your mind. Keeping it brief and high level is best, the less detail you provide around your commitment the more power you are giving to the Universal energies to deliver amazing miracles far beyond your imaginings. The more detail you get into, the more you restrict the possibilities. An example might be: “I can’t work here anymore.” Be careful not to get caught up in the how’s related to your commitment, avoid focusing on all of the details that will be related to it, and definitely do not think about any ramifications of the decision. If you’re at the commitment stage, all of that thinking has already been done to death. GET OUT OF YOUR HEAD.
Focus all of your emotional energy on making this commitment absolute. No back doors, no half-ways, no saying it but not really meaning it. If you’re still struggling with that, then you’re not even ready for Step 1. To focus your emotional energy, allow yourself to feel everything related to this commitment. In the case of ‘I can’t work here anymore’ allow every frustration, stress, unhappiness, misery, lost opportunity, etc. to build inside of you until you hit a culmination point. When you get to that point, where you feel as if you’re going to explode with it, then put every ounce of that energy into your commitment. Say it out loud: “I’M NOT WORKING HERE ANYMORE!!!” If your commitment is more along the lines of, “I want to move to another country”, then allow the feelings of excitement, adventure, trepidation, fear of the unknown to permeate your body, then do the same, “I WANT TO MOVE TO ANOTHER COUNTRY!!!” (a quick note here – don’t get too caught up in the words want, can’t, etc. Yes, I know all about NLP, The Secret, etc. The energies of intention we’re working with here blow all of that stuff out of the water, so use the language and words that hold the most power for you!)
Focus on shifting the energy outside of your body. When you say your commitment out loud you’ll start to notice a shift in the energies inside of you. Focus on sending the energy of your commitment outside of your body, rather than manipulating them within your body, which is what we used to do when we locked in (we sub-consciously marshaled that energy into a self-powered change agent). When I was making my commitment statement I found that the shift of energy outside of my body actually happened quite naturally, but then I was channeling the process the same time I was doing it, so I don’t want to put any expectations on how it will feel for you. Trust the process. Don’t judge the movement of the energy. For me it felt as if my entire body was saturated, right down to the cellular level, with the energy of the commitment, to the point where my body literally couldn’t contain any more of that energy and it started to permeate outside of my body in waves. These waves actually gained momentum rather than waning in strength the further they got from my body. Trust whatever happens to you – the magic is in your intention for the commitment, your body will do what it does, don’t judge it just because it doesn’t exactly match my description.

Now, just allow. I’ve been tapping into my commitment every day (for about a week so far) and I can still feel the power of it out there. It’s almost as if I can sense on the periphery that things are shifting to make room for me in my new reality, whatever that is. Yes, I’m still taking actual physical action related to my commitment, but I don’t feel ‘driven’, or focused to the exclusion of enjoying and trusting the process. Rather I feel supported, held and energized.

I’ll keep you posted on my progress…the proof, as always, is in the pudding:)

Enjoying the Journey! ~Trish

Meet Your Money – My Gift to You

Posted on June 13, 2011 by Trish

WATCH VIDEO HERE

Yes, it’s been a while since I’ve posted a blog. I’ve been in the midst of transitions and shifts that are so huge, there really haven’t been words to describe them. I’ll be sharing more about these in the coming weeks. For today, however, I have a special gift for you. I want to introduce you to your money. I know, it sounds crazy, but bear with me for a minute.

The first thing you need to understand is that everything is energy. Whether you believe this or not, it is what it is. For example, when you meet someone for the first time and decide you’d love to spend more time with them, or decide you can’t stand them, you are, unconsciously, reading their energetic signature and matching it against your own to determine, in nanoseconds, how you will proceed with that person. What you may not understand is that everything around you is energy, the house you live in, your car, your community, your city, your country, etc. etc.

Most importantly, your money is also energy and you are, unconsciously, matching your energy to the energy of money. The problem with this is that the predominant energy of money is one of lack. Lack, or a poverty mentality, is currently one of the strongest energies around money in today’s society. This energy is reinforced daily as we’re told there is a recession, as we hear about people losing their jobs and homes, and as we see the effects of a ‘lack of money’ in our communities.

Are you open to the idea that you could shift this ‘poverty’ energy, and that the shift would affect not only you, but everyone who touches the money you’ve shifted as you do business with them, buy their products or services, or simply give it as a gift?

Depending on your perspectives on money, you’re either attracting, repelling, being apathetic or experiencing one of a million other emotions and/or reactions towards money, most of which you can’t even begin to understand or discern. You may even feel as if money controls you to a great degree. When you have it, you can do things, when you don’t…you can’t.

Money may also seem elusive, as if you’re missing some magic ingredient that keeps you from being ‘one of the lucky ones’. What if it’s not about luck?

What if understanding your money’s energy would allow you to embrace and welcome more money into your life?

Would you choose to embrace more money? If you had the opportunity, would you choose to get to know your money? Would you put effort into creating a relationship with it?

Are you open to changing your perspective?

Are you open to giving your money a personality? Maybe even a name?

Are you willing to experience the joy of sharing your money with others…even when it’s as mundane as paying a bill?

What if every time you gave your money to someone else, for any reason, you sent it off with an authentic wish for your money to experience an amazing adventure?

Imagine you are money for a moment. Would you rather spend time with someone who is constantly stressed, who sees you as a necessary evil, who hates paying bills, who feels like they’re being taken advantage of every time they pay for something as if they’re losing their money and will never get it back? OR, would you rather spend time with someone who loves money, someone who is grateful for the opportunity to be able to pay for the products and services they use, someone who is in absolute bliss when they get to spend money on the things they love to have and do? Who would you rather spend your time with? Can you see how your day-to-day engagements with your money are affecting your ability to have more of it?

Do you realize how much power you have to attract obscene amounts of money to you?

What are you willing to change?

Imagine every time you receive a cheque, your pay, or even a gift of money, that, in your mind, you warmly embrace it and welcome it like a long lost friend.

Imagine going out to dinner and when you’re paying your bill, sending your money off with gratitude for the wonderful meal you just had and sending your money off with a wish for an amazing adventure.

Imagine feeling joy every time you have the opportunity to send more of your money out into the world through paying bills and purchasing your day-to-day necessities.

Imagine using cash more often so you can physically start to feel more connected to your money. We’ve become desensitized to our money through the use of tools like credit cards and Interac – we’ve become completely detached from our money. I believe it’s time to reclaim your relationship with your money.

If you’re feeling like this is just a little weird, let me ask you this, “Is what you’re doing now working for you?” If it’s not, then what’s holding you back? Are you willing to act a little strange if it means attracting ridiculous amounts of money into your life?

Finally, I know that many people in personal development will tell you that all you need to do is shift your perspective. My issue with that approach is that if you don’t know what other perspectives are available to you, then how can you change it? For that reason, I’ve provided a new perspective for you in this short video. You may need to watch it a few times, as the first time through it may throw you for a loop (I think you’ll see some interesting correlations in this video) – but once you start to really wrap your head around it, you’ll start to notice the shift in how you see your money, and more specifically, your relationship it.

WATCH VIDEO HERE

NOTE: this video is in Flash format, so you may not be able to view it on all Smartphones.

Enjoying the Journey!

Mustard and Banana Splits – Embracing the Journey

Posted on March 15, 2011 by Trish

The other day I opened up the fridge to grab the mustard and as I stood there I thought, “I don’t want to buy mustard again!” And that was the trigger, the visceral decision that I don’t want to remain in this house, in this town, on this Island long enough to buy more ‘staples’ at the grocery store!!

So let me back up for a moment. When our family moved to Vancouver Island 6 years ago, from Nova Scotia, we committed to staying here until our son graduated from High School. Almost immediately after his graduation (almost 2 years ago now) we started saying, “Ok, next adventure please…” and have been talking about leaving the Island ever since. Last year we sold a lot of our belongings and started to rent so we could be more mobile. Now we’re coming on to a year of renting and we’re still here – ACK!!!

So, when I opened that fridge and saw the mustard, it was a declaration. It was a statement to the Universe (and anyone else who’s listening) that I’m done.

That very day of the mustard episode I sat in meditation. I know that the last 2 years have been a process of stripping away everything that defines me. I’ve been pushed, prodded and kicked right in the ass by the Universe. I’ve been in a state of wondering, “How many hidden fears, self-limiting beliefs and judgments can I have left, I mean come on!!!” And BOOM, no sooner would I ask the question and the next one was right there – stripping more of my ego-defined self away. I can’t tell you how many times over the course of the last year, in particular, I said, “I’m done, I literally can’t take any more of this, I have nothing left”, only to discover – WRONG – yeah, there was still more crap and goop yet to be uncovered for me to face, acknowledge and release. How naive could I have been to think that I could accumulate 39 years of traumas, hurts and conditioning and get rid of it in mere months?! I mean, I did a 1-year detox of my physical body and I know better – I know you can’t get rid of that much crap overnight. But, naive I was.

So as I continued to meditate on this – to look at it objectively, I realized that I did ask for this. I chose a path that would allow me to be in service to others. I chose the path of a healer. I chose to want to share my gifts with the world in a big way. So why am I fighting this process of stripping away? Because that is how I saw it – a stripping away – a process by which my very self was being taken from me and feeling helpless to stop it. I decided that if I asked for this (and I did) maybe it isn’t a stripping away so much as a cleansing, a preparation for what I am here to do. And if so, then it came to me that if I was going to create the ultimate Banana Split, would I put it in the dirty bowl on the counter that I used last night or would I put it in a clean bowl from the cupboard? Is this not the same thing…I mean, even in the dirty bowl the Banana Split would still taste good, but there would be this niggling icky feeling that it’s not quite everything it could be. Doesn’t it make perfect sense that if I asked the Universe for this role that the Universe would want to manifest that creation in a clean vessel – that it would want to help me to rid myself of all the dirty, icky crap before bringing me to the place where I will step fully into who I am – so there would be no niggling icky feeling that it’s not quite everything it could be?

In that moment I decided to stop fighting and railing against this cleansing (aka stripping) process and to embrace it fully – I mean, helloooo, I did ask for it. So, I’m going with it – facilitating it, opening myself up to it fully. Putting it all on the line – a show of trust in the process that will either bring me to into everything I was meant to be…or to the looney bin (I’ll keep you posted!)

It reminds me of a brilliant line from the movie Revolver, “If you knew how painful and difficult the process was going to be, you would have never come with us.”

The very next morning (after the mustard / Banana Split revelation) we’ve decided to sell everything we own. Furniture, beds, EVERYTHING!!! Getting in a car and heading back to Nova Scotia to see what shifts, what shows up, what changes…to embrace the journey instead of fighting it every step of the way.

Enjoying the Journey! ~Trish

Resonant Creation – The Evolution of the Law of Attraction

Posted on January 20, 2011 by Trish

I have been alluding to this idea of Resonant Creation for quite some time now, yet, there is a readiness that is required for people to get to this place of being able to create through Resonance. From what I can ascertain, you cannot simply ‘choose’ to get there, you must first do the work. Many of my blogs to date have shared with you the work I have done, where I’ve laid myself and my struggles bare before you in the hopes that my journey resonates with you at some level, and that you will, in turn, feel supported should you decide to do the work for yourself. That being said, as always, this is not gospel, fact or even truth. This is MY TRUTH. The intent of what I share with you is always about allowing you to take whatever resonates and to leave everything else behind, never has that intention been any more pertinent than for this posting.

Last summer was the first time I saw any mention of the term Resonant Creation, it was in a blog posting by Lauren Gorgo. There was no description of it, or what it meant, however, as soon as I saw it I knew exactly what it was and that it was HUGE; that it would change everything. And it has.

What ‘Work’ Do I Need to Do?

The work I am referring to is the process of deconstructing who you believed you were, to allow who you really are to emerge. This work is often frustrating, heart-wrenching, painful and lonely and there are many, many ways to accomplish it. However, as you come out the other side of each ‘release’, you find that you’ve evolved – and more importantly, that the world around you has evolved to match who you are now – new friends, a new job, destructive family members or relationships have moved away from you, etc. If you’ve been doing your work, then you are in a position to begin to leverage the ease and power of Resonant Creation. You work will continue, but the process will be infinitely easier, faster and less damaging to your external environment. Issues you needed to release that may have taken months to reveal themselves to you in the past can now be identified and released in a matter of hours or days at most.

The Law of Attraction in a Nutshell

Here’s how we’ve been taught that the Law of Attraction works:

1. I identify what I desire.

2. I create an emotion that matches what it will feel like when that desire has been realized. For example, if I want a new car, I imagine how totally cool it will be to drive my new car, listen to music in my new car, how my new car will handle, how I’ll smile every time I see my new car when it’s shiny and clean. I’ll imagine how others will look at my new car longingly because they also think its totally cool. Essentially, I ‘manufacture’ an emotion that then becomes the engine to power the Universe to bring me what I desire.

3. I get out of the way, allowing the Universe to bring me what I desire.

Our self-imposed limitations on the Law of Attraction:

1. Our natural tendency is often to want to dictate or control ‘how’ our desire shows up. Because of this, we tend to limit the ability for our desire to show up in our lives because we’re expecting to see it show up in a certain way.

2. Our human mind is limited in its ability to truly appreciate the magic that goes into having our desire come to us. In fact, this is so much the case that often people who practice the Law of Attraction will tell you that it wasn’t until months after they actually received the object of their desire that they even realized it had already arrived. They wanted it, they followed the steps, but when it arrived, they didn’t even recognize it for what it was. Months later they looked back and realized, “Oh, wow, that’s cool, it did arrive, huh”!

3. One of the biggest barriers to this approach is that many of us don’t have a clue what we really want. The more we become comfortable with the Law of Attraction, the more we also become discerning in how we choose to use it. All of a sudden the new car, or the bigger house, etc. somehow doesn’t seem as important as it did before. We get to a place where we want more than material possessions – where we want to make a difference in the world, where we want to become everything we were meant to be.

I want to be clear that the issues I’m identifying here are not issues with the Law of Attraction, but rather with how we choose to leverage the power that is at our disposal.

How is Resonant Creation different from Law of Attraction?

At it’s essence, it’s not. It uses the exact same engine insofar as it is a Universal Law. However, HOW it is used is the difference between what you knew about Law of Attraction and what I’m about to share with you now.

With the Law of Attraction as you know it today, YOU must decide what it is that you want. Then you must manufacture the emotion to ‘power’ that manifestation. Again, two issues: 1. most of us don’t really know what we want, and 2. some of us have no idea what it really feels like to be a millionaire, so how do we create that emotion, for example.

In practicing the Law of Attraction you have been led to believe that you have to defer to a power that you believe is greater than you to bring to you the things that you believe you want.

Me giving my intention to the Universe using Law of Attraction:

What if…
…you had the ability to allow your Expanded Self to guide you to the people, places and events that are aligned not only with who you really are, but why you are really here?
…you understood that you are not meant to defer to the Universe as a separate entity that is more powerful than you, but that your Expanded Self holds within it all of the power of the Universe, and therefore, the power of the Law of Attraction?
…you didn’t have to try to figure out what you really want, but were able to discover what you really want through experiences that resonate with you and show you what you most want to know?
…you didn’t have to put so much energy into figuring out, using and waiting on the Law of Attraction to work?
…you had the ability to leverage huge power, that resides within you, to enable the power of the Law of Attraction easier and faster than ever before?
…you could get out of your head and stop driving yourself crazy trying to figure it out at all?

This is Resonant Creation.

Me owning my power through Resonant Creation:

I met with a client last week on this very topic. Before we started I asked him what he thought Resonant Creation was. This was his answer:

“It’s when I can get out of the monkey-mind and get into a place where I know, with absolute certainty, that what feels right is what I should be doing or creating. Where I will feel within me who or what is in alignment with my path and I can become clear about what I’m here to do.”

It was amazing. With very little information, he intuitively knew what Resonant Creation was, just as I did when I first read the term in Lauren’s post last summer. Because it RESONATES!

With the Law of Attraction as we know it today, we are effectively pushing our will or desire onto the Universe to create what we think we want.

With Resonant Creation, we are surrendering to our Spirit (Expanded Self, Highest Good, Guides, whatever you want to call it) and allowing the feeling of resonance to guide us to what we really want.

More to come…this one’s a biggie!

This video from Abraham-Hicks talks about ‘The Vortex’, this is another name for living in Resonant Creation. Near the end, you will hear the man speaking about how much energy he used to put into ‘creating through Law of Attraction’, yet you will hear Esther Hicks talk about how the Law of Attraction is still in effect, it’s how you’re accessing it that makes all the difference between being in or out of The Vortex.

Enjoying the Journey! ~Trish

Releasing ‘Hope’, ‘Faith’ and ‘Belief’ to Find Your Power

Posted on December 10, 2010 by Trish

Yes, I know, this is a radical concept. I mean, whether we believe in a religion or consider ourselves ‘spiritual’ or both (or neither), we generally have faith in something or we have hopes for our future, and we definitely have beliefs we’ve created as a result of our journey, experiences and conditioning.

I know many of you have found this last year to be exceptionally difficult. You’ve been forced to look at yourself, your issues, your choices and anything and everything else that may be holding you back. Oftentimes the same thing kept coming up for you again and again (re-read A Spiral Theory on Why The Same ‘Stuff’ Keeps Showing up in our Lives! if you’re not sure what I’m talking about here!). This process is getting us to a state of readiness. It has been preparing us to be able to shift from the ‘old’ into the ‘new’. The ‘old’ being a state of separation, the ‘new’ being a state of unification. It was necessary, but it wasn’t even remotely fun, and the games are continuing even now. Ask yourself how many times you’ve felt, said or believed that things were shifting, that you were leaving the crap behind and moving forward, only to be taken down yet again. And you’re shaking your head wondering, WHAT!? What am I missing? I understand the Law of Attraction, so what gives? I believe, I believe, COME ON UNIVERSE, I mean really! Is this some kind of cosmic joke?

A new day is upon us and we can choose to embrace it…or not. The choice is always ours. I want you to think about this for a moment. When we ‘believe’, or ‘hope’ or have ‘faith’, we are putting not only our trust, but much of our personal power into something that is completely intangible, into the ethereal as it were. What if that ‘source’ (God, the Universe, Spirit, etc.) was a person. Would we give that much power to another person. NO WAY (not consciously anyway!). So, as I sat down the other night after being knocked down a peg…yet again, I decided I’m done with this. I’m finished with asking, “why?” and I’m sick of having ‘faith’ that everything will turn out. I’m frankly sick and tired. Then something magical happened.

I was talking about this (whining and bitching frankly) to my dear friend Kony Dengel. As I was talking to her I realized that this ‘hope’, ‘faith’, and ‘belief’ that I have that the Universe will take care of everything is feeling more and more as if I’m giving my power to someone or something else. I was feeling power-less. Is not the very state of ‘hope’ a belief that I don’t have what it is I want, hence I ‘hope’ I’ll get it someday. Is not the very state of ‘faith’ a belief that someday things will be as I want to them to be, but that they’re not that way right now? Is not ‘belief’ saying that it’s not real now but it will be, hence I ‘believe’ it to be the case, rather than ‘knowing’ it is.

That night I decided to let go of my hope, faith and beliefs. All of them. I often encourage my coaching clients to do this as well. Not that you have to forever release your beliefs, but you should always be willing to question them, for they are simply a construct based on what you ‘know’ at this moment, which changes every moment, hence you should allow your beliefs to change as well.

When I went through this process I let go of my beliefs as a Shaman and as a healer, I let go of my belief that I’m ‘supposed’ to be an author and a speaker, I let go of the hope that someday I will be financially free, I let go of my faith in the Universe, and on and on and on it went. I felt a huge release through this process, not as if something was being ripped away, but more like a weight was being lifted.

The next morning I was curious to see how I would feel. Interestingly enough, I was still a Shaman, still a healer, still an author and speaker. However, it was not through my ‘hope’ or ‘belief’ or ‘faith’, but through a knowing. I had taken back my power from the land of the intangible and made it real through owning it right here on the earth plane, right now. I felt totally empowered and almost immediately things began to shift.

I want to be clear that I still see Source as the core of all that is, whether that is God, the Universe, etc. But I no longer see it as something separate from myself. I’m not putting the responsibility for my reality ‘out there sure to happen at some future date’, I’m owning it ‘in here…right now’, and it’s pretty cool.

The Law of Attraction is about creation through intent. I believe the ‘new’ power of creation will be through ‘resonance’ – alignment with who and what you were meant to be. But more on that in my next post. Until then…

the journey! ~Trish

Surrender is the Key to Your Expanded Self

Posted on July 20, 2010 by Trish

I received a message the other night. It was as if I was dreaming, yet I was wide awake. I would think a thought – any thought – and then it would consume my entire body as if I was going to explode. My mind was so full it felt like it was going to break open, and my body was so full of the energy of the ‘thought’ it was as if it was going to break open my skin – I felt trapped, and yet on my periphery, I could sense there was a message there for me about this, that this was a very literal way to show me something that I needed to know. It got so bad, I woke my husband up from a dead sleep – I couldn’t breathe for the weight in my chest.

I sat with this the following morning. I went and lied down on the grass, allowing myself to ground, to release my requirement to think to the earth – to simply feel and allow any messages to come. The message I got was, “You need to become your Expanded Self.” This wasn’t outside of the realm of what I know – I’ve been to workshops before where I’ve learned that simply changing your thoughts about something can allow you to expand and become bigger than you were before – and that once you’ve done that, you can’t go back to being small again, you simply are now bigger, and that this evolution continues – with A-HA moments, growth, etc. But somehow, this was different. The sense I got was that my Expanded Self is my direct connection to everything – that, in essence, it is everything. I already believe that I AM all that is – I’ve held this belief for some time now, so this was a bit disturbing for me – the thought that even though I already believed I AM everything, now there was something more. Well, DUH! Of course the moment we believe we know it all (a-hem) we learn that we know nothing.

So here I am, lying on the grass in my front yard and I’m not fighting this knowledge, simply acknowledging that this is the next evolution in my journey. Intuitively I also knew there was a key – some mechanism that would allow ease of flow into my Expanded Self on demand, and ultimately, that I could simply choose to live there – in the space of my Expanded Self.

Later that day I spoke to an artist friend of mine about this as I felt she would create a piece of art to reflect this at some point. She totally got it. Interestingly, we were at a Guitar Hero competition that afternoon. I was absolutely in awe of the amazing talent, and as the winner (a 17 year-old who has only been playing for 2 years) was ‘in the zone’ and doing his thing I realized, he is, in that moment, channeling his Expanded Self. It is part of the entirety of what he is, and yet, he is not fully in his Expanded Self, merely catching a thread of it, for the entirety of the Expanded Self is so much more and we must be ready. Until we are ready, we have access to it, as we might receive a regular allowance from a Trust Fund, and yet, we are not yet ready for the responsibility of the Trust Fund itself.

I went to bed, knowing there was a key, and knowing also that it would be made clear to me when the time was right. For those of you who know me, that sentence says everything – as I’m not generally known for my patience in waiting for things to appear!

And so it was the very next morning that I got the key. And I have to say that I was not even remotely surprised, and was even a little disappointed in myself that I didn’t see it earlier. The key is Surrender. To surrender to your Expanded Self. To have no expectation, to have no requirements, no plans, no desires of what it will be, to simply allow it to be. And there it was. There I was – my Expanded Self. The thought or emotion that was an ’8′ in my physical body, was barely a blip in my Expanded Self.

I’ve been playing with this for a few days now. When we went to the beach, I ran my hands through the sand and gloried in the sense that my Expanded Self is all of that – the sun, the sand, the waves, the trees, the power of everything. When I jog in the park with my dog, I surrender to my Expanded Self to draw more breath, to draw more strength, to know my power at a fundamental level and thereby release the thought that I’m not enough – in any way. I am all of that and more. I can now choose to step fully into my Expanded Self and watch, as an observer, my life as if from a distance. Or, I can simply draw on the essence of a single aspect of my Expanded Self to support me in a particular endeavor.

This morning I began to wonder about separation. How we have separated ourselves from others through beliefs and conditioning. However, I now understand that we have also separated from our Expanded Selves. Theoretically, I believe that we can either choose to become one with all, and through that process become one with our Expanded Selves, or become one with our Expanded Selves and through that process become one with all. I do believe that they are distinct and different processes, and yet, I also believe that one will logically flow into the other. A simple analogy: when our clients start educating themselves on the importance of eating organic and natural foods for the health of their bodies, at some point in their transition, they become more aware and naturally start to have more respect for their environment by not using toxic products, etc. One process logically flowed into the next and it also would works in reverse – people who respect the environment, at some point also start to respect their bodies and learn to take care of them properly as well (yes, I know – lots of generalizations, however, I’ve seen it enough with our clients to prove it true for me, and hey, it’s my blog!)

When I think that we are all ONE (and I do), it is as if I have somehow become inconsequential in the process. As if it is the whole that is more important – and in many ways I also believe that is the case. However, as I have been playing with my Expanded Self, I am realizing that me, being fully who I am in my expansion (beyond the limited capacity of my human body/thoughts/ideas/beliefs), is integral to the whole – an entirely different perspective.

I also realize that I am still limited to my human body, thoughts, ideas and beliefs, but each time I choose to surrender into my Expanded Self, I am more, I am capable of more, I am ‘expanded’ for lack of a better term.

Enjoying the Journey! ~ Trish

Guest Blogger Kony Dengel – The Dream Promoter

Posted on May 26, 2010 by Trish

I met Kony Dengel a few months ago through a mutual friend (thanks Cec!). She totally ‘gets it’ – you know when you’re talking to someone and you literally don’t even have to finish your sentences because they already ‘get’ what you’re talking about. She’s one of those people who, when you’re talking to her, you keep talking faster and faster because you can’t believe that there’s really someone out there who totally ‘gets’ you and your thought processes – you think, “AHHH, I’m not a freak!”. Yes, Kony is one of those rare finds. We all have them in our lives, I am blessed to have quite a few, and Kony is definitely one of them!

I was talking to Kony last week and we were discussing a blog posting by Lauren Gorgo. This blog posting was magnificent. It totally captured exactly where I feel I am right now and articulated things I had not been able to even wrap my head around, and yet I felt them. I felt out of sorts, confused, unsure of the Universe and the messages I was receiving. Should I go back into corporate, should I focus on the book, WHAT AM I SUPPOSED TO BE DOING FOR CRYING OUT LOUD! Well, Lauren’s blog was like a revelation for me. Now, I understand we’re not all in the same place, so it may not have the same punch for you, but if it does, then you know exactly what I’m talking about.

So, back to my conversation with Kony…she’s talking about money. Specifically about how some of us are simply not built to desire money for money’s sake. And that when we’re sitting there wishing we had more of it, it’s still not about the money, but what we want to do with the money or what we think we need the money to help us accomplish. She also brought up the point that often we sit in ‘want’ of money, but at some level we already realize that when the money arrives, it simply allows us to move to the next place in whatever we’re doing, it is an energy or a vehicle, but it is not the underlying driver. The money, whether we have it or whether we don’t, is not the issue (although it certainly feels like it when there isn’t any!)

Upon recognizing this, Kony asked herself, “What is the missing piece?”

She then shared her experience with me and I found it so powerful that I had chills as she was talking to me on the phone. She was so passionate about this, that I literally felt myself being empowered by what she was saying. I knew this was coming from a Universal intelligence and that Kony was a conduit for the message.

“There was a sense of sadness-depression like state that I was feeling in my life and the circumstances that I found myself in. A friend of mine recently told me that she had to get really pissed-off about something in her life in order for her to make the changes necessary to shift out of her circumstances. I thought about that concept and knew that is what I needed to do to pull myself out of this powerlessness – I had to get really pissed and angry to move this emotion. So in asking what is it that I really want to change in my life, I thought at first what I really wanted to change is the financial situation that I am in, but that wasn’t it. This will only pacify me for a certain time period and I am still left with my limitations. So then I’m asking myself what is it that I really need to get pissed about, the answer was the entire limitation that I have placed upon myself. Not knowing and not feeling who I really am is what I want to change; that I want to fully awaken to feeling myself fully realized, in full power and full knowing, because from that place there is no lack, there is no limitation and there is no scarcity, and I can manifest with ease. Right after doing this exercise, a shift took place and I feel lighter, freer, and more powerful.”
~ Kony Dengel, Dream Promoter & Owner of Passionate Promotions

Kony Dengel!

Even reading this again as I am writing this blog posting, I get chills. It is often not about what we think it is about – if we simply find within ourselves who we are fully realized, who we are in our full power, who we ARE – we are complete.

Enjoying the Journey! ~Trish

When Truth Resonates

Posted on March 1, 2010 by Trish

I absolutely love the community that is developing around The Question Journey. What I love about it is that I’ve decided to share my truth with you. Who I am, without positioning my life or experiences for optimum “effect”. I tell it like it is. Because one of the most powerful things I’ve learned in my journey is that when someone shares their truth it resonates with me- I feel that truth within me. Today’s blog is proof positive that that goes both ways. That when I share my truth with others, it resonates with them as well.

The following was sent to me by Marvin Double, who has been following my blog, Newsletters and Tweets. Marvin often sends me intriguing feedback, but this one touched something inside of me as I am sure it will for many. In order for this to really make sense, I’m including the original newsletter article I wrote:

February 18 Newsletter: Are You Open to Receiving?

When someone gives you a gift for no apparent reason – what is your initial reaction? Disbelief? Wonder? Amazement? Joy? Guilt?

Too often we do not even notice our initial reaction and within a nanosecond we use our habitual reaction – whatever that might be…”Oh no, I can’t accept that”, “What did I do to deserve this?”, “What for?”, “Why are you giving me this?” and of course, for those who actually do know how to receive, “Thank You”.

The more perceived value the gift has, the more difficulty we have in our ability to receive it unconditionally. And therein lies the crux – that word, “unconditional”.

How often have we been bribed, tied to another or otherwise emotionally blackmailed through the use of gifts? Or perhaps you never received them and have no point of reference on which to base your reaction other than it feels “uncomfortable”.

Regardless of how gifts are being offered to you, whether they carry an expectation on the part of the giver or not, if you receive them unconditionally, then that it is what it is – a gift, to you, for no other reason than that you are a child of the Universe and deserving of such. Enjoy it, allow yourself to experience the joy of feeling spoiled, treasure it and yeah, maybe even throw in a Universal Happy Dance! Tell the Universe you want more of it – because YOU deserve it! ~Trish

Marvin Double’s Response:

I just finished reading your newsletter for February 18, Are You Open To Receiving? This struck a cord with me so I felt compelled to make a comment.

I’m a baby boomer, born in 1950. My parents, while not overtly religious were Baptists and clearly subscribed to the basic tenets of
Christianity. In our home the principals embodied in the so called Golden Rule were very much in evidence. Honesty and integrity were sacrosanct as was the more general concept of strength of character.

One of the more pervasive ideas, which is interwoven into this moral tapestry is the idea of self sacrifice. The idea of thinking of others first or putting others before oneself was so much a part of my family culture that it became imprinted into ones subconscious. This idea of giving to others was very much reinforced by a larger societal paradigm.

The concept of self sacrifice or putting others first was evident in such simple acts as, never taking the largest piece of cake, allowing
others to go through a door first and demonstrating ones moral certainty by being modest, retiring and self effacing.

All this comes to focus in the basic Christian theology that we are in fact imperfect having inherited so called “original sin”. The subconscious message within that idea is, we are undeserving and ungrateful beings as a part of our basic nature. We can only fully
benefit from God’s love if we admit this and accept salvation. In the Baptist tradition this acknowledgment is made publicly through the ritual of baptism.

For some this social and religious foundation, illustrated by parents, teachers and civil leaders, can and often does create a high degree of uncertainty as to ones personal worth. After all, the very idea that even God won’t love us if we don’t first admit we are flawed is a pretty powerful message.

When we are also told that self-sacrifice and putting others first is a way of gaining favor with others and God, the die is cast for many of us to go through life feeling undeserving. One need not look beyond the example that, as we are told, Jesus died for our sins, to see how the idea of self-sacrifice is used to influence our thinking and behavior.

How many of us go to the grave thinking that we haven’t done enough for others to curry the favor of a righteous demanding and judgmental God? How many of us live in the long shadow cast by a deep need for parental approval?

Little wonder then, that so many of us have trouble accepting the idea that happiness and abundance are in fact the natural order of things. That accepting love as it manifests in different ways is not only OK but also part of the divine intention.

Many of us were raised in a culture of scarcity and fear. We are taught that we have no value aside from that which others bestow upon us; that we must know our place, mind our manners and never expect too much from life. It is ours then to strive and suffer and die in hope that we we be acknowledged for our humility and sacrifice.

Shifting from such thoughts into a mindset of universal love, a love which requires no such sacrifice, which need not be earned is not always easy. You’re message is one which needs to be heard and taken directly to heart. Thanks very much for putting it out there for all to see.

Namaste
Marvin Double

If you’d like to receive these newsletters, CLICK HERE to subscribe.

Enjoying the Journey! ~Trish

Do You Trust the Universe

Posted on January 12, 2010 by Trish

If you are familiar with, and use, the Law of Attraction, you know there are three simple steps.
1. Clarify your desire
2. Believe you have already achieved your desire and feel the emotions of it as if it already exists.
3. Get out of the way and allow the Universe to deliver your desire to you. I say, “Get out of the way” because HOW the Universe delivers if often outside of our ability to understand – hence, when you start to put restrictions on HOW it needs to arrive, you put roadblocks in the Universe’s way.

Ok, simple right. Well, not really. On the surface these are three very easy steps. Anyone can do them. Where we tend to fall down is in the gap between step 2 and step 3. This posting is not about getting out of the way (see previous posting on that topic: Let the Universe do it’s Work!). This is about TRUST.

When you put your desire out there…when you choose to consciously create your reality, do you really trust that the Universe will deliver. Our relationship with the Universe is unique. We know it is much more powerful than any person we have a relationship with, while we can certainly have full on conversations with the Universe, our conversations are often in our heads. Do we know that the messages we’re sending and receiving are truly with the Universe or is it our “little voice” that is leading us to believe that we are truly conversing. Maybe it’s just our imagination…Just these questions alone require a level of trust and I haven’t even gotten to the heart of the matter yet!

For arguments sake, let’s pretend that we do, in fact, trust that we can converse with the Universe. So we clearly put our desires out there, we carefully and consciously craft our new reality and send it out to the Universe to have it delivered. Then what? If the request is relatively small, my experience these days is that it will manifest within hours or days. But what if the request is a bit bigger – a new career path, moving to another part of the world, new and exciting opportunities that you may not even be able to define as yet.

What happens when you put these things out there? Well, there are a lot of machinations that need to take place in order for the Universe to bring that new reality to you. While these shifts are happening, guess what most of us are doing? We’re questioning everything!

Yes, you heard me, we’re questioning the entire process, and as a result we’re questioning the Universe. In our minds we’re saying, “Why haven’t I heard from anyone yet?”, “How long is this supposed to take?”, “How much more suffering is necessary?”, “What is going on?”, or my all time favourite, “What have I done wrong? This isn’t what I asked for!”

Let’s translate this into a person-to-person relationship. Imagine your relationship with the Universe is actually the relationship with your partner. What does it mean when you start to question him or her? “Why haven’t I heard from them?”, “Maybe they don’t love me.”, “Maybe they’re with someone else.”, “Why aren’t they answering the phone?”

Pure and simple, if these questions even enter your headspace, whether it is your relationship to the Universe or your spouse, you are suffering from a lack of trust.

If you’ve taken the time to put your desires out there, if you’ve created the emotions around it as if it is already real – just TRUST. Let go of your attachment to how, when, why and where it will show up. The only thing that is causing you stress and angst is your lack of trust. Big changes require change. The Universe is working exceptionally fast these days – it will show up, stop questioning the process and just go with it!

Enjoying the Journey! ~Trish

Clarify Your Intentions

Posted on January 2, 2010 by Trish

I hope you enjoyed your New Years’ celebrations. I attended a great party with wonderful friends and we all participated in a fire ceremony to cement our intentions for 2010.

My intentions were very simple. I’ve heard before that I should focus on being the CEO of my life rather than the Manager. While I understood at some level what that meant, I also find it infinitely difficult to let go of ‘how’ something needs to look, or ‘how’ it should show up. I don’t know if I’m just a little slow on the uptake and that’s why it has taken me so long to wrap my head around this concept, or if I simply wasn’t ready (I’m going for the latter – I’m not partial to seeing myself as slow, I still have some ego in tact!).

So I started by scripting a contract with the Universe, agreeing to do X in exchange for Y. Now, before I share that contract with you, I need to clarify a few things so that the wording makes sense to you.

Per my previous postings regarding the Martyr Archetype that I discovered within myself (uh-huh), I found a definition in Carolyne Myss’ book, “Sacred Contracts” that said, “The Martyr is…a person who has learned to utilize a combination of service and suffering for others as the primary means of controlling and manipulating her environment.”

Well, isn’t that cute – NOT! However, cute or not, it was true. I wasn’t a Martyr with respect to how I interacted with others, but with how I interacted with money. Sure, I’ll take that job for less money and the promise of bonuses that never arrive just so I can do the work I love to do. I’d love to have your stock options, going out of business? Guess those stocks won’t be worth much will they, oh well, poor me! What I was doing was controlling my environment to maintain my internal financial set point. I was not to exceed $X a year and each time I’d come close, I would find a way to sabotage it. Why? Because I knew how to live within my current financial set point, by changing it, I would have to change everything, and you know how keen we are to do that!

Now I’ll share the contract and hopefully it will make sense to you.

Here’s the essence of the contract:
“Dear Universe, I open myself up to the unknown reality of what it will mean when I bypass my current financial set point. I know I created it as a form of control and I hereby relinquish this control and formally request a new, significantly higher, base annual salary. I no longer have a need for a financial set point, as I intend to grow my finances exponentially.

I formally request $X per year with 60% coming as residual income and 40% from earned income. Earned income will come via work I am meant to do, that I love to do and that serves my divine purpose.

I am in service to the Universe, and given my level of skill, experience and commitment, I will not settle for less than the salary requested. Nor am I willing to accept a deal, bonuses in lieu of cash designed for me to prove myself (although bonuses in addition to will be welcome with open arms and heartfelt gratitude), nor will I accept future stock options or any other form of payment outside of the indicated cashflow requirements.

I am willing to relocate or travel to fulfill my obligations. I offer these terms, and upon acceptance, this contract will be in effect for the next 5 years.”

Based on this contract, which took out the ‘hows’, I was then easily able to identify my intentions (my ‘what’):

I am…