OCT
09

Creating More YES

On a recent Tuesday morning, I woke up and said to myself, “this is going to be an amazing day.” I had recently attended a “Mind, Body and Soul Retreat” sponsored by Hay House Publishing where I saw a number of Hay House authors speak about transforming your life through your thoughts, your self-care practices and your connection to the universe. I had left the weekend with a copy of You Can Create an Exceptional Life by Louise Hay & Cheryl Richardson.

A little bit about Louise Hay before the rest of the story – she’s an inspiration in and of herself. She is the founder of Hay House, and is a highly respected founder of the self-help movement. Louise started the publishing company at the age of 60 (she is now 85 – and has just begun to take piano lessons; she actually travels with a portable keyboard which she plugs into her iPad to practice scales on Garage Band!).  She teaches and practices the use of positive affirmations to attract peace, health and abundance into one’s life. So a few pages into the book, and still energized from my weekend I decided to begin my day affirming its greatness.

When I sat down at my computer that Tuesday morning, there was a video in my inbox from Marie Forleo, who I love, titled “How Do I Figure Out What I Want?” It’s a question to which I could very much relate. Over the past several months I’ve come to realize that I’ve been using the question’s implication, I don’t know what I want, to keep me stuck in the mindset that I’m someone who doesn’t know my own passions and is unclear about I really want to do with my life. Gratefully, I’m beginning to see that neither of these things is actually true but that dwelling in the question is a sure fire way to keep it unanswered.

Let yourself be silently drawn by the stronger pull of what you really love.
- Rumi

I felt such a sense of relief when I first came across this quote. Its message just clicks for me. It reminds me that I don’t need to spend my time struggling to figure out what I’m about but rather to allow myself to be drawn with ease to things I love; it clarifies for me the notions of surrendering your desires and co-creating with the universe.

Yet none of this is to say that I’ve fully dissolved the thought patterns and habits that often keep me from having an amazing day every day. So on that Tuesday, I’d stopped thinking about all this stuff by the time lunch rolled around.  I stayed sitting at work well past the time I first felt myself getting hungry, stalling to get up from my desk, leave the building and pick up something to eat. When I finally got moving, I started thinking again about Louise Hay’s affirmations and the message of Marie Forleo’s video. Now with a green juice in hand, I decided to walk back to my office, creating my own affirmation.

I am guided to and seize opportunities to contribute meaningfully to the world.

I said it over and over in my mind until, without my noticing, my thoughts moved to my laundry, getting to the grocery store and wanting to blow out my hair. No more than eight blocks later and I got Erin’s email asking me to write a guest post while she is away on vacation. At first I didn’t at all connect her email with the affirmation I’d been repeating to myself only minutes ago. But then I looked down and saw, right at my feet, this YES sticker staring up at me (a little modified version – grab it, Pin it!).

“I am guided to and seize opportunities to contribute meaningfully to the world.” I immediately started laughing; synchronicity is one of my favorite topics and was much discussed at the Hay House retreat. In his keynote session, best-selling author Wayne Dyer shared a piece of advice he received in his twenties, and has carried with him ever since:

1. Pay attention [to the messages, synchronicities, and occurrences that are all around you]

2. Be astonished by them

3. Share it with other people

I felt so energized, motivated and aligned by the entire experience. A draft was already forming in my head and I felt like I could barely wait until I was back inside to get it on paper. But before that could happen the universe had one more sign for sign for me:

I smiled again, knowing its meaning as someone quite prone to procrastination. Point taken.

Many thanks to Lauren Feighan of Sister Disco for her incredible guest post! Please share a little love in the comments below if you enjoyed her very compelling post on creating affirmations and paying attention to the signs in your life. And don’t forget to visit she and her sister, Farrell, over at Sister Disco for visual, written and audio inspiration (they make badass playlists!).