self manifesabatoge.

There is a phenomenon of less than desirable life shaping happening amongst my friends, family and acquaintances that I like to refer to as self mansifesabatoge.

I hear it all around me, including from my own mouth. I hear folks make, on a regular basis, general negative statements such as:

"I'm probably not getting that job, it's such a competitive market."

"He's not going to call me back. Men are such bullshit."

"It doesn't matter how much I work out, I'm still fat."

"I'll never make enough money to be happy. This rat race will be the death of me."

Ack, so terrible! I could break down the plethora of reasons why this kind of verbal self bashing is no bueno for your mojo (and could also make the case for trusting the process and letting the lessons of life unfold as they are meant to), but mostly I gotta pump the brakes to draw attention to the fact that these statements are actively chosen as perceived truth. Out of the zillions of thoughts we can choose to focus on, these are the ones we give power to? The heck. What gives?

For example: My most common thoughts this week?

I'm off. I twisted my knee in yoga yesterday, I've been exhausted no matter how much I sleep, I can't seem to balance my social calendar, I'm so physically off I'll probably injure myself more this weekend....

With all this negative balance/mojo talk, it's no wonder I tumbled down my apartment steps today (I kinda wish you were there to see it as I'm sure I looked hilarious).

Exhibit A:

owies.

Here's the thing---while I deeply believe in the power of positive thinking, I'm not sitting here saying I specifically manifested a fall down the stairs. That, truth be told, can most heavily be blamed on my super cute but slightly difficult to balance in clog heels. But I'm also not sitting here saying I don't think we have some degree of control over the...graceful?...way our days play out.

I believe that...as Deepak Chopra so simply states...what we perceive as real, becomes real.  I believe that what we spend our time mulling, stewing and swirling over will eventually become our daily reality. I believe this to the extent that we physically give strength to our thoughts and their ability to guide us towards our ultimate goals based on how much time we spend on them, how much emotion there is behind them, how much faith we have in their truth and of course, the degree of effort we then put into making them real.

Because I believe so deeply in the power of manifesting, the reverse of happy-thoughts-bringing-happy-things is also true. I repeat--what you perceive as real becomes real--even if that perception is negative. Thus, enter self manifesabatoge.

Now, my take on the whole power-of-positive-thinking theory does have a slight twist to it that differs from most works located in the self-help or metaphysical sections of book stores. I am firm believer in allowing yourself to lean into the discomfort; in sitting with your emotions, acknowledging their presence and letting them guide you to a place of release, acceptance or change. But I am an even bigger believer in eventually letting them go. In not allowing them to drag you down or suck the light out of your sparkle. And I, perhaps most importantly, believe that when shit just doesn't go the way we hoped we have the power of shifting our perspectives to help pull ourselves up and onward.

We have got to stop doing this to ourselves; we have got to stop sabotaging our potential for good in life from everything big like accomplishing dreams to everything small like successfully making it down a set of stairs. It's time to step up for our own highest good and continue feeding loving fuel to our shining potential. I'm begging you--pay attention to your thoughts and ask yourself regularly, "am I being kind to myself?"  If the answer is no, ya gotta give that thought the boot. It simply does not serve you.

This weekend I choose to acknowledge how grateful I am to practice yoga with an instructor I trust and respect. I affirm my booming social calendar is a blessed sign of the wonderful life I've created in California and can easily be adjusted to fit my needs at any moment. I accept control over my sleeping habits and have patience with/love for my body....

...And I retire my clog heels for awhile...ya know, until my stair-confidence builds back up again.

So, my radical readers, I wonder: what are you creating?

love and light,

Trish