Barbara's Blog

Some good things to remember

Notice this moment.

This is it.

This is your life. Isn’t it amazing?

Be thankful for what you have.

First of all you have been given the gift of life. Appreciate it!

Remember what you focus your attention on grow. So use the gift of your attention wisely.

If you focus on lack, you will experience lack.

If you focus on the abundance of your life, you will experience abundance.

If you focus on love, you will experience love.

Don’t expect other people to fix it for you.

That’s your job.

And you can do it.

This is your life – now!

Go for the highest and best you can conceive of but don’t expect other people to understand and support you.

Understand and support yourself.

The power of forgiving

Here is an amazing story I just received…

Dear Barbara,

My name is Katarina and I write to thank you for the comfort I received by reading your book Fast Food for the Soul. Some years ago several events lead me into a deep depression, the most serious being that my sister was assaulted in the middle of the night by an unknown man (unknown still to this day). It really broke my heart, I felt that it was so unfair that he had attacked her because she is such a sweet person, always helping others, always caring.(well, I'm partial, she is my sister.) I felt so angry with this man, how dare he do this? I had fantasies about hiring someone to kill him if only I knew who he was.

I bought your book because I felt so drained of energy and the word "fast" just spoke to me at the time. I read in disbelief and when I came to the part where you talk about how to resolve conflict situations with people through your hug technique I got angry. Yeah, right, I thought. But I also thought won't hurt trying. The only image I had of this man was of the back of the police officer that had "played" the role of the aggressor at a reconstruction of the crime scene. I sat on my bed, closed my eyes and went back to what had happened at the reconstruction. I felt fear in every cell in my body, but I walked up from behind, closer and closer until I could wrap my arms around him. It's hard to convey what happened, but I felt like I was the first person to hold him with an open heart, wishing him well. I realized that he had brought hate, violence into my life because he didn't know any better. I would make it worse by answering with hate, love is the only truly powerful answer to such behaviour. In the presence of my love his hatred dissolved. I believe this to be one of the most important moments of my life. I felt so relieved afterwards, forgiveness is really a gift to oneself. I moved recently and rediscovered your book going through my things. I really treasure it! It really helped me through a difficult time. Thank you! A thousand times!

Yours sincerely,

Katarina

More about negative affirmations

Why are negative affirmations - like the one I wrote about yesterday - so powerful? I guess because they align you with the Truth which is the impermanence of all things in the world of form.

And also because the less you feel you need - the happier you are right now. When you feel you need more money, a better job, a nice boyfriend, a better place to live... well you are basically saying that your happiness depends on getting something which is out there which you don't have and the Truth is there is nothing out there to get. You already are all of it... even though you have probably forgotten this. And of course this is not to say you can't work for a better job or a bigger house, but when you feel you need something - well then you are tied to the results of your actions. And this always causes unhappiness. (Read the Bhagavad Gita again! Or listen to Deepak Chopra's brilliant reading of the Gita - you can buy it on iTunes... called Sacred Verses)

Anyway, as it says in the Bhagavad Gita, when we are attached to the result of our actions, we are doomed... but when we say I don't need it, I don't care about it, I don't want it, I'm fine without it... well then we are free! Free to work for the Highest Good and then leave the rest to God!

Rest in the miracle of  the life you have at this very moment and enjoy this day!

The power of negative affirmation

I've discovered that sometime negative affirmations work even better for me than positive ones!

For example, I had a big event recently and was feeling a lot of pressure (all in my head of course) and then I said to myself - I'm old and fat and I've had it! And you know what, it helped so much! It made me relax and let go. Because I figured well since I'm old and fat and I've had it... what is there to worry about? It was a brilliant way for me to practice non-attachment! It was like saying to whatever outcome I was trying so hard to achieve - I don't want it - I don't need it - I'm just fine without it.

I was telling my son Mark about my negative affirmation yesterday and he said Mom you should add and I'm going to die to your affirmation! Then he told me that Dharma Mittra - the great yoga teacher - said at his intensive training program in New York (where Mark just was)... that his negative affirmation was... I'm old and I'm going to die!

So you might want to try setting yourself free with a negative affiirmation and see what happens!

 

Yes we can!

Sorry I haven't written for a while but we have been on the road - teaching in northern Sweden - and then well experiencing the emotional high of Barack Obama winning. It is amazing how the vibrationa level of Planet Earth just went up and there is new hope everywhere you look. Amazing. Wonderful. Fabulous.

I  grew up in Washington DC and I was there when Martin Luther King said "I have a dream"... (I was 17 at the time)... and now listening it Barack Obama... it's the same energy... the same vision... calling us all to go up higher. Isn't it wonderful! I'm ready.... hope you are too!

Installation of Love

Someone just sent me this. Read and enjoy!

"The Installation of Love"

Tech Support: Yes, how can I help you?

Customer: Well, after much consideration, I've decided to install Love. Can you guide me through the process?

Tech Support: Yes. I can help you. Are you ready to proceed?

Customer: Well, I'm not very technical, but I think I'm ready. What do I do first?

Tech Support: The first step is to open your Heart. Have you located your Heart?

Customer: Yes, but there are several other programs running now. Is it okay to install Love while they are running?

Tech Support: What programs are running ?

Customer: Let's see, I have Past Hurt, Low Self-Esteem, Grudge and Resentment running right now.

Tech Support: No problem, Love will gradually erase Past Hurt from your current operating system. It may remain in your permanent memory but it will no longer disrupt other programs. Love will eventually override Low Self-Esteem with a module of its own called High Self-Esteem. However, you have to completely turn off Grudge and Resentment. Those programs prevent Love from being properly installed. Can you turn those off ?

Customer: I don't know how to turn them off. Can you tell me how?

Tech Support: With pleasure. Go to your start menu and invoke Forgiveness. Do this as many times as necessary until Grudge and Resentment have been completely erased.

Customer: Okay, done! Love has started installing itself. Is that normal?

Tech Support: Yes, but remember that you have only the base program. You need to begin connecting to other Hearts in order to get the upgrades.

Customer: Oops! I have an error message already. It says, "Error - Program not run on external components." What should I do?

Tech Support: Don't worry. It means that the Love program is set up to run on Internal Hearts, but has not yet been run on your Heart. In non-technical terms, it simply means you have to Love yourself before you can Love others.

Customer: So, what should I do?

Tech Support: Pull down Self-Acceptance; then click on the following files: Forgive-Self; Realize Your Worth; and Acknowledge your Limitations.

Customer: Okay, done.

Tech Support: Now, copy them to the "My Heart" directory. The system will overwrite any conflicting files and begin patching faulty programming. Also, you need to delete Verbose Self-Criticism from all directories and empty your Recycle Bin to make sure it is completely gone and never comes back.

Customer: Got it. Hey! My heart is filling up with new files. Smile is playing on my monitor and Peace and Contentment are copying themselves all over My Heart. Is this normal?

Tech Support: Sometimes. For others it takes awhile, but eventually everything gets it at the proper time. So Love is installed and running. One more thing before we hang up. Love is Freeware. Be sure to give it and its various modules to everyone you meet. They will in turn share it with others and return some cool modules back to you.

Customer: Thank you, God.

God/Tech Support: You're Welcome, Anytime.