to journal or not to journal, that is the question

Posted on December 19, 2011 by Mental Messages

This weekend I was cleaning up some spiral bound journals I worked with over the past few years, and wouldn’t you know, I came across several pages from courses I completed back then that required soul searching questions/answers defining what I wanted from my life, my disappointments, dreams, new directions I wanted to follow and outcomes I wanted to attain. Wouldn’t you know that everything I asked for I’ve gotten. Literally, PAGES of hard-core-looking-at-myself-realization came to life! I’m actually living my dreams and didn’t even realize it. When it comes to transformation, by all means, people, WRITE STUFF DOWN! Seize the opportunity to take on a new direction for yourselves in the new year. Committing your dreams to paper is fundamental when charting your new course. When you put your hopes and desires out there, getting them out of your head releases them, like rockets of desire, to let the universe know what you want for yourself. Once you offered them up, you allow them to spring forth, therefore becoming more in alignment with what you want. As stated in the Law of Attraction, when you align your vibrations (energy) with your desires (purpose), you get what you want or more!!! THIS IS A PROMISE!

power vs. force

Posted on December 14, 2011 by Mental Messages

In David Hawkins book, “Power Vs. Force: The Hidden Determinations of Human Behavior,” he states that mind can absolutely take precedence over matter. Citing a demonstration where human muscles weaken when exposed to harmful stimuli, a test was performed. Placing an artificial sweetener either on the tongue, kept in its package adjacent to the solar plexus, or hidden in a plain envelope, results found it made every subject test weak, and the contents of which to both tester and subject were unknown. The body responded accurately even when the mind was unaware.

He determined that “the mind knows far more than it knows it knows.“

Hawkins said, “For purposes, it’s really only necessary to recognize the power is what makes you go strong, while force makes you go weak. Love, compassion and forgiveness, which may be mistakingly thought of as submissive by some, are in fact, profoundly empowering. Revenge, judgement, mentalism, and condemnation, on the other hand, inevitably make you go weak. Therefore, regardless of moral righteousness, it’s a simple clinical fact that in the long run, the weak cannot prevail against the strong. That which is weak falls of its own accord.”

Hence the title of the book, Power vs. Force! And so it goes in life. POWER [the empowering traits of truth, love, sincerity] always triumphs over FORCE [the ego's cry for domination, judgement militia, domination, condemnation]. Even looks better, right!

Remember this simple clarity and you’ll always never lose sight of your high road.

confusion says: contrast

Posted on November 29, 2011 by Mental Messages

Light, dark, mine, theirs, this, that… if only I could decide. Sometimes we find ourselves unable to make the smallest of decisions and when that happens, don’t sweat it. When the stakes are higher, it can take a little more time to figure out your direction. Confusion helps illustrate contrast.

Remember, go gently down the stream. Row in the direction of your dreams. Don’t neglect what you need to do for the overall betterment, but know that things may not always seem as they appear. All things happen for a reason. And when those unlikely things pop up in the midst of a decision making process, let go for a while, row the boat, try it on, see how it feels and how you feel during it. Respect yourself. We’re never presented with things we cannot handle. We come from good stock! Sometimes it seems like a direction might be wrong for you. Feel the contrast of the new scenario. Become aware of what it feels like. And then if you can, sleep on it. Sometimes the best answers come at the onset of a new dawn. Wake up. Listen to your heart. Is it really as horrible as you thought? Put it into the perspective of the fresh day and then decide. And if at first you don’t succeed, give it another day of contrast, then decide again.

truth … it’ll set you free

Posted on November 25, 2011 by Mental Messages

Truthfulness should be the main foundation from which we all operate. As kids, our parents told us not to tell lies. Honesty is the best policy. “How can we let you go out with friends if you lie to us about where you’re going?” “How can we trust you if we can’t rely on your word?” Sound familiar?

I don’t want to confuse the issue here. The truthfulness I’m talking about here is about being truthful with yourself, not kidding yourself. It isn’t about you keeping something from your bestie to spare their feelings or not sharing with your husband that your new pants cost more than the car payment. We all think we know ourselves, and at the ripe ol’ age of 54, you think I’d know myself by now, too. But life is a work in process, and the more we live, the more we learn. And the more we learn, the more we grow, by peeling back the layers of the onion and getting to the true essence of what we’re all about.

But in order to grow as people, we have to be willing to see ourselves AS WE ARE, not how we THINK we are, or as we THINK we WANNA BE, no matter how difficult this can be. Life is a journey. The dictionary’s definition of journey is: the act of traveling from one place to another. So how can we travel successfully if we kid ourselves? We can’t get from NY to LA if we head to England, can we? And we certainly can’t squeeze into the 12 jeans if our hips measure out to a 22.

I know that positive thinking helps get us where we wanna be. I’m a huge believer in that. And leading by thought is the main principal of positive thinking. As they say, “you’ll SEE it when you BELIEVE it”. This is true. But you’re not gonna see anything if you kid yourself. Recognize the issues. Acknowledge that they’re there. Just be cause they exist doesn’t mean that’s who you are. They don’t define you, unless you let them. Out the crap, see the issues for what they are and understand that once you say hi to them, that you know that they’re there, it’s that much easier to talk back and let them know that you know they’re there but you’re no longer gonna accept them. Make the decision to let go of them, cast them out of your life, let them go. They serve no purpose with you any longer. And once you confront it, they will fade away into the sunset, maybe slowly, but defnitely surely.

like us

Posted on November 22, 2011 by Mental Messages

Mental Messages is my labor of love. And even though Paul McCartney says love is all you need (and yes, he’s right about that), here in digi-land, likes are helpful, too. If you’ve come to this site and found it helpful or even just appreciated what you’ve seen, give us a click on facebook. Thanks

your mind is a magnet

Posted on November 21, 2011 by Mental Messages

“The world is your mirror and your mind is a magnet. What you perceive in this world is largely a reflection of your own attitudes and beliefs. Life will give you what you attract with your thoughts. Think, act and talk negatively and your world will be negative. Think and act and talk with enthusiasm and you will attract positive results.”

~ Michael Lebeuf

pickled onions, really?

Posted on November 14, 2011 by Mental Messages

Yes. REALLY. These are the best things I remember having in a long time. Just when you’re looking for a quick, whole healthy add on, try this out. Simple, fast, and gently down the stream! Little calories, total taste extravaganza! Put them on anything! You’ll thank me!

Pickled Onions ala Bouchon Bakery at the Time Warner Center, NYC

Onions make this!

2 parts water, 1 part sugar, 1 part very high quality champagne vinegar and sliced red onions. Combine water, sugar, vinegar in small saucepan until sugar melts. Cool liquid and add sliced red onions. Let it sit for an hour or so just until onions marinate and serve. Try them on sandwiches. salads, crackers or be crazy and eat them alone. Enjoy! Or just plain get your butt to the restaurant and see for yourself.

http://www.bouchonbakery.com/

http://www.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.bouchonbakery.com%2F&h=XAQHQcTTL

cummings speaks volumes

Quote

Posted on November 8, 2011 by Mental Messages

“It takes courage to grow up and turn out to be who you really are.”

e e cummings

a formal welcome to you all

Posted on October 28, 2011 by Mental Messages

I believe things happen for a reason, that everything is meant to be. You probably haven’t noticed, but our original welcome post went “poof,” and it’s nowhere to be found. It could’ve disappeared with a software upgrade or maybe I just deleted it by mistake. I took this as a sign that the proper welcome wasn’t meant to post until now. Without further ado, ‘welcome to Mental Messages,’ where all things move gently down the stream.

As you can see, MM is a work in progress, ever evolving, as are most digital entities these days and that makes it fun for us creatives. When I first launched, I created the header and tagline (design speak for the picture at the top of the website and the phrase that tells what we’re about), with a photo of young grass sprouting up from dark soil. Nature resonates with me. I find great solace when I’m surrounded by its natural beauty. The grass reflected a new beginning, a fresh start. The tagline read “downstream thoughts in an upstream world,” (which is also on the magazine cover), as I wanted it to relate our real world, “clarity in chaos.” As I settled in, “gently down the stream” began to emerge as the guiding principal for everything I approached, and it just kept working. And after all, MM is my dream, and that’s about making things good. So I dumped the upstream stuff. Too negative—life’s short—so there you have it!

One thing I’ve seen is it’s easy to get all up in your panties about little things. Life moves at lightening speed and sometimes it’s hard to stay focused, no less catch your breath and just be. I derive tremendous benefit from wisdom of the ages, the fundamental thoughts that have been around for centuries. After all, if it was understood a thousand years ago and it still rings true today, there’s got to be something to it, right? Inspirational quotes, stories and images bring me back to center. There I regain clarity and perspective I often lose when I don’t take the time to listen to my inner voice and connect with myself.

Row, row, row your boat, gently down the stream. Wayne Dyer relates life to this old English nursery rhyme. It resonates with me so much so, that when I explain the philosophy behind Mental Messages, all roads lead back to it. I even created a graphic for my office way back when to keep me on track when I fall off the path. Here it is, sitting on it’s happy shelf.

Wayne explains that life’s not a race. We need to move gently in the direction of our dreams and the rest will come. Trust our intentions, listen to our intuitions and let go of the oars. No need to row, just go with the flow and you’ll find your soul’s journey. I’ll paraphrase, but here’s the gist:

Row, row, row your boat [don’t push it, who would do that? And row your own boat, not your fathers boat, or your wife’s boat, just row your own Goddamn boat!]

Gently down the stream [not up the stream, going against the current is hard. And gently, It’s a row boat, not a speed boat. This isn’t a race.]

Merrily, merrily, merrily, merrily [not sadly. And four times, none the less! Cheer up and stop taking yourself so seriously.]

Life is but a dream [not a nightmare. Mystics have said this for millennia. Believe them. Do what comes easy. Dreams are about what you love. Do what you love.]

I love this! Does life have to be difficult? It’s not supposed to be. But there are times when we get caught up in external influences and lose sight of what’s important. Enter: Mental Messages, inspiring you, sharing with you, keeping you on track.

Several years ago, I was introduced to Esther and Jerry Hicks and the teachings of Abraham (amazing stuff, they’re on my reading list, you’ll love them). In The Astonishing Power of Emotions, the collective consciousness Abraham uses the analogy of life being the stream and we being the boat. We’ve grown up thinking life’s supposed to be a struggle. Well, guess what: NOT! If we let go of the paddles and go with the current, there is no struggle, the boat will go where it’s supposed to go, it’s easy. This is the way it’s SUPPOSED to be—WITH the current, WITH the flow, gently down the stream. And when you get downstream, harmony awaits because you’re in alignment with the universe, and the universe will direct the course so things will work out the way they should. You’ll get downstream without a struggle. Because when we’re in harmony, we move in the right direction. We go with the flow, and that’s what life is, at its best.

This blew me away. It’s brilliant! So simple, clear, basic. True.

Remember, as Wayne said, life’s not a race. We ‘re supposed to enjoy the journey, gently down the stream, in the direction of our dreams. And when you let go, they will automatically come.

Mental Messages was created to honor the unlimited potential in us all and awaken the dreams that celebrate who we are or really want to be. With positive messaging, inspirational stories and timeless wisdoms, we aspire to inspire. With this philosophy we develop products to be poetic, beautiful, astute and relevant to honor the wonderfulness of you, facing you in the direction to fulfill your dreams, putting power in your hands to chart your course while you go WITH, not against, the flow.

Thanks for coming.