Human Spirituality

I think when people hear the word cancer, they gravitate towards every negative thing that is associated with it.  Typically, death is at first thought.  How long am I going to live?  Am I going to lose my hair? The list can go on.  Here is the thing, what if I told you, there is a actually some positives that come from being diagnosed with cancer?  Shocking, right?!

It allows for one to become a bigger part of their spiritual being.  I am not talking about ones relationship with their religion of choice.  Spiritual being is who you are, your human spirit, your SOUL.  Don’t get this twisted, some days are hard.  There is just something that is unavoidable by being faced with something as hard as the Big C.  You are tested in every damn near way possible.  Every damn day is a battle but the Big C works in mysterious ways.  You hear that saying about how God works in mysterious ways? Yes, so does the Big C.

I think one of the most iconic things that Cancer does, it is almost an iconic statement of her.  Yes, I call my cancer her.  She has this way of wanting to trick my brain into thinking that I am not allowed to have anything G O O D happen.

Let me just lay and paint this picture before I get to my point of her trying to take the good away from me.  Cancer takes away a plethora of things from you as does chemo.  Think about it, it is the most monotonous thing out there.  It allows for you to resort to a depressed state.  They take away your energy, taste, smell, confidence, friends, family, independence and life.  Let that sink in, your magic carpet has quickly turned to the warm sands of Bora Bora, leaving you in the cold harsh winter.

So let me get back on track here.  You see, Cancer, she has a damn good way of making you think nothing is good anymore.  You don’t deserve good, you don’t deserve anything. What if I told this untrue?  Cancer or not!

What if for one moment, we or I allowed myself to think that I can have everything that I want.  Let’s be realistic here and mention, non materialistic things.  What if we allowed every fiber, our limbs, lobes of our brain to be filled with our grandest visions of life that we are envisioning and ever so wanting?  Allowing for our hands, toes, feet, and our walk to be all about this good thing, this good thought, this thing we want.  As these thoughts pass through our bodies, our necks, spine and shoulders are our base.  Once we have finally reached a state of peace, we allow this thought to reach the pit of our being, our stomachs.  Peace then enters our veins, our blood stream and ultimately travel to our hearts.  Our hearts are restless until they rest in us.

Life is full of unlimited possibilities and if we allow for one second to believe this, it could happen.  No, it will happen.  A peaceful and ultimately a prosperous life is a damn good filled life with damn good possibilities that ultimately will nourish our beings, our spiritual beings, our mind, body and souls.  Think it.  Feel it.  Do it.

I encourage you to be involved in one good thought today, giving yourself permission to get fired up, get hot, let this thought travel through your being and just be actively involved within this thought you have created to believe.  Let one good thought, be an entire possibility.  Become your human spirit.

Student of Life

Have you ever heard of being a “student of life?” Meaning, where you learn from your life experiences to strive and be a better person every day, day by day.  I can only allude to that being an avid student of life can lead to happiness. A form of true and authentic happiness.

The majority of my life has granted me uncontrollable things and controllable things that have happened to me.  Since getting diagnosed I have been hit with uncontrollable amount of things happening to me.  The biggest with how my body will respond to anything, the amount of treatment I need and the laundry list can ensue.  Yet, there are a lot of things that I can control. When you actively reflect on what you can and cannot control, you quickly learn that being able to control at least SOMETHING is really a blessing.

As these testing situations in our life happen, we actually get better.  Often, we reflect and think as to when we are being “retested” within our life, its because we failed.  Think about it for a moment, think about a time where you had felt that you were being tested again, over and over again.  Do you think it is because you keep failing?

This is where we need to triumph the negative and ill feelings toward failure.  Lets strive to be a “good student” of life. We need to trust ourselves, rely on what we know and continue to do what we know and what we do before.  This time just better and better and better than before.  We must be WILLING to continue to strive for progression that will ultimately ensure unfolding of our more powerful and empowered higher self.

Somewhere, in there, we exist.  We just have to keep getting better and better and better.

In the end, when we are striving to be and do our best despite all obstacles that is a very empowering and controllable virtue to attain in the uncertainty of uncontrollable situations.

Remember, attitude is a little thing that makes a H U G E difference within all situations of any nature.  Let your attitude be shaped by life experiences from only merely becoming better, better and better and not failures.

 

 

Self-Love: Drowning or Swimming?

I am not sure why I can complete things on a daily basis, such as a shower, go to work, work out, drink water, etc. Yet, I cannot complete a journal or blog for weeks, months or years on end.  One of the most therapeutic things for me is writing, yet I still can’t seem to do it.  Only when I find myself in the deepest trenches of my soul.

Yes, there is a link between feeling some type of way and writing.  It is therapeutic for a reason, at least to me.  So here I am.  Alone in my thoughts.  I recently started my journey on obtaining my PhD.  Yes, crazy.  There isn’t a lot of room for me to enjoy a book out of sheer enjoyment.  I am buried inside textbooks and peer reviewed articles.  Lucky for me I am in-between quarters for two weeks.  This means that I am going to attempt to read a few books that have been teasing my brain for awhile now.

I just recently read a book by Bob Goff, it is called Everybody Always:  Becoming love in a world full of setbacks and difficult people.  This book was astonishing and very mindful.  I choose mindful because I enjoy things that make me become mind-full and authentic, at a deeper level.  It is easy to get away from ourselves, our true authentic selves these days.  Anything that is pertaining to self help and positivity is right up my alley.  Let’s make documentaries a close second. Bob does a wonderful job in explaining how we as people need to love thy neighbor as we would love ourselves.  It is easy for us to fill our lives up with people we like and enjoy but what about those people who we find weird, creepy and who we just can’t mere a 10 second around?  How can we learn to love them and embrace them for as who they are.  The way I related to his message was this;  I can love them for as much as they represent themselves.  If they are a horrible person, let me learn to love them for as much as their “horrible” is, if there is rightfully such a thing.  Essentially, how can I love everyone I come in contact with?  Even if it is for 60 second for two months.

Here is the thing, what if someone doesn’t love themselves?  Views themselves as they should? Think about how this effects the rest of their world and the people that encompass that world.  This is huge.  If there is anything I have learned thus far in my 28 years of living but my journey of being my authentic self, is self love.  I don’t care who you are, what you are, you have to love yourself first for anything else to click within your life.   For someone to be authentic within themselves and every single type of relationship they hold;  partner, children, friends, coworkers, etc. Self love is needed.  Bob talks about in his book how people seek validation from other people around us.  We often go with is popular rather than what is eternal.  This often makes us choose for what is good in that moment rather than what is seemingly authentic and will make the longest and lasting impact within our lives.  Choosing what is “good” in that moment, the rest of our lives will follow suite.   Bob has a famous line in the book where he says, “We will crater instead of create, and we will drown in the places we ought to be swimming.”

We will crater instead of create, and we will be drowning instead of swimming.  Impacting and profound words from the professor himself.  Yes, Bob is a law professor at Pepperdine University. There isn’t much I can top off from those inspiring words.  Maybe, his words can just be as that in providing validation of becoming more authentic within ourselves and our identify.  Are we living our best lives for ourselves, out of self love? Essentially, how does how your current self reflect upon your current life and those relationships?

Why I am no professional or can’t offer any guidance tailored to a specific person or their journey, I can reflect on mine.  I was once a girl, staring in front of a mirror hating every single thing I saw.  I body shamed, I cursed, I cried, I hated, and most of all I didn’t understand or value or my worth.  I constantly strived for validation from any single person that wasn’t me.  Granted, I think we all seek validation in some type of way.  Let me say, I needed validation in EVERYTHING.  I had ZERO and I mean ZERO self love for myself and honestly, I didn’t think anyone else had it for me.  How was I going to even have love for anyone else, from my family, friends, relationships and anything that I viewed remotely as important to me and my life?  My life was absolutely miserable and I drove myself to quintessentially drowning in its own right.  A lot of has changed since my youth and early 20’s.  I am 28 and have nothing but the upmost love for myself and the people I embrace every single day.  Now, with Bob’s advice, I am going to work on those “other” people.  My life is drastically different in being more authentic and mind-full but having true inspirational love for myself vs. validation filled upon of fake love. When you are swimming in a pool of sheer love and happiness, it is divinely different.  Stop living your life for others and at the expense of others.  If you are left standing alone, how would you feel? how would you be represented? Would you smile? Would you cry? Would you swim? Would you drown? Could you carry on?

Self love is happiness.  Happiness is living every minute with love, grace and gratitude.