Experience Happiness » Nancy

Voice of the ego and voice of the soul

happychannel — Fri, 09 Jul 2010 15:42:39 +0000

I am reading Kundalini Rising, which is a thoughtfully curated collection of essays of peoples experience with awakening. In Barbara Harris Whitfield essay she shares her view on the voice of the ego and the voice of the soul. It is a fascinating and wonderful guide to help us engage with our selves and others with compassion and love. I am always excited when I find a new tool to help me practice happienss. Here it is for you to explore.

Voice of the ego and voice of the soul, by Barbara Harris Whitfield

Ego traits	Soul traits
Flatters	Informs
Commands	Suggests
Demands	Guides
Tests	Nudges
Choose for you	Leaves choice to you
Imprisons	Empowers
Promotes dependence	Promotes independence
Intrudes	Respects
Pushes	Supports
Excludes	Includes
Instills fear	Promotes well-being
Becomes bored easily; not at peace	Realizes peaces when doing nothing
Is status oriented	Is free and open
Judges	Accepts individuality
Demand obedience	Encourages growth and development
Implies having ultimate authority	Recognizes a Higher Power
Offers shortcuts	Offers integration
Seeks personal gratification	Extends unconditional love

Enjoy this experiment called life!

- Nancy

Switching our mental tapes

happychannel — Fri, 25 Jun 2010 20:01:57 +0000

Usually when Linda connects with Michael, and after they lovingly greet me, they then ask me to share with them how I am feeling. (I must admit that after three years of practicing the 5 Principles of Happiness that it can still take me a while to locate how I’m feeling in any given moment.) However, last week they asked me to identify what I was thinking and more specifically to share what thoughts were running around in my head. (Even my thoughts took me a while to locate!) They gently reminded me that consciousness is the head and the heart working together, and in order to create a happy life we need to feel first and then act. It’s when we act first and then feel that create our challenges. And then they shared this:

“You can not release what you do not acknowledge. As soon as you acknowledge your thoughts and feelings then you have the power to release them.”

Michael then worked with me to help me acknowledge that one of the mental tapes I have playing is a belief that there is always “just enough”. This seed of belief was planted early in my childhood – there was always just enough; food, money, time, attention, even love and I have continued to water this belief daily throughout the years - all on my own. Now my hearts desire is to live with abundance – on all levels.

And so my homework from Michael is to say an affirmation for the next 30 days first thing in the morning and also whenever I realize that the old mental tape is playing. Doing so will allow me to first acknowledge that my old mental tape is playing now and with consciousness release it by empowering myself to play a new mental tape, there by planting a new seed of belief.

Below you will find the affirmation Michael gave me. If you have mental tapes playing that are no longer serving you I invite you to experiment with this for 30 days along with me and share what you are learning and experiencing with others.

I realize that in the past I have viewed myself as _______, but now I realize that I am __________. I celebrate my skills of _____, _____ & _____ and today I will make every effort to put them to use in a confident, caring, and committed way without appearing for feeling arrogant.

Happy Practicing!

- Nancy

There is always an opportunity to practice happiness!

happychannel — Tue, 01 Jun 2010 19:35:10 +0000

I find it fascinating that every day serves up new opportunities to put my happiness practice into action. I am very grateful for this because it requires no extra planning, energy or special attire on my part to practice the five principles of happiness as I go about this thing called ‘life’. And then occasionally there are those unique experiences that seem to push me into a whole new level of practice – like family holidays and celebrations. I understand the concept that we are all mirrors to each other however, it is more like being in a house of mirrors when the family is gathered and I find it hard to stay centered at times. Can you relate to this?

It’s during these unique ‘practice opportunities’ as Linda and I call them, that I find myself digging deeper into my happiness toolkit for more insight and tools from Michael such as; releasing expectations of self and others – for expectations are the breading ground of all disappointment. Another one I really like is forgiveness, which is the gift we give ourselves by allowing the other person to be exactly who they are – which is not always the person we want them to be! This past weekend I also practiced being open to receiving - if someone offered to do something or take care of something that needed to be done I gratefully and graciously let them. WOW! Did that feel good!

As the summer festivities unfold I invite you to look at these special events as opportunities to practice happiness at a deeper level and encourage you to share with us your practice tips.

In gratitude,

- Nancy

Releasing Feelings of Insecurity

happychannel — Mon, 17 May 2010 17:55:12 +0000

Much of the Conversation with Michael at Old Arizona Theater last night focused on the need to release our feelings of insecurity – which is the other side of the same coin as the fear of failure. Can you relate to this one? If I took the time to list when my fear of failure and concern about how others will perceive me held me back from doing what I really want to do throughout my life the list would reach to the moon and beyond. And when Michael said “If you just stopped judging yourself you just might do something magnificent” it felt like the flood gates opened. For at our core I believe we all have the hearts desire to do many magnificent things in our lifetime and I try my best to support my family, friends and colleagues in their efforts to engage in things that make them happy and reveal their unique gifts, beauty and truth, however the key to last nights conversation for me was the awareness that I rarely support myself in the same way. Do you support yourself in doing what you know you want to do?

As we all know (yet need to be constantly reminded), change starts within us first then it ripples out to others. So starting today I am adding to my happiness practice the mediation Michael they gave us last night on releasing feelings of insecurity and will focus on being more aware during the day when I find myself not doing what I want out because of my feelings of insecurity and release the fear by stepping into conscious and compassionate action.

How do you release your feelings of insecurity?

With new awareness,

- Nancy

How Learning Life Lessons Serves EVERYONE!

happychannel — Wed, 12 May 2010 18:41:20 +0000

In a recent conversation with Michael, I asked a question on behalf of Linda and myself: “What can we do to serve the highest good?” thinking that there was something that we should be doing for others. Surprising Michael shared with us that what serves the highest good is what serves us —- and what serves us is learning our life lessons. OMG! All these years of believing that my needs don’t matter – that what makes me happy doesn’t matter – who knew that learning our life lessons is what serves the highest good? Did you know that?

Then Michael went on to share that Linda and I are both stepping into a new life lesson of believing we are worthy of receiving the abundance that the universe has to offer and more specifically in our case releasing the belief that we are unworthy. Can you relate to this?

Several days later I was reviewing a few of my Co-Creation models and I found myself compelled to change the language from “I want …” to “I am worthy of…” and it was like an internal switch was turned on. What I recognized in that moment was I shifted from co-creating from my ego (and sense of lack) to my heart and out of love of myself. And then it was crazy — within 10 hours things started to come in and I consciously focused on opening up to receiving from this new belief of feeling worthy.

If this resonates with you, I invite you to just practice adjusting your language slightly and as often as you can say “I am worthy” then enjoy the unfolding.

In appreciation,

Nancy