1. Re-read the Harry Potter series in anticipation of the new book (which. was. awesome.),
2. Sweltered in the heat (which was not awesome),
3. Took my last Reiki class (I am now a Master Teacher, huzzah!),
4. Spent time with my mother (which is always nice),
5. Listened to the buzzing in my head,
6. Played a bunch of Wii,
7. Moved the forums from my own system to Zaadz.com (more on this in a minute),
8. The rest is a blur.

Of the items on the list, two are particularly relevant to Uncover Your Bliss:

The first is my Master Teacher status. I am in the process of developing class materials and I will begin teaching Reiki in September. I will be offering classes online as well as in person for those in the Denver metro area. I will post more information including dates and outlines in the near future.

The second is the forum move to Zaadz.com. If you receive my newsletter*, you know about this already. Here’s the announcement:

Uncover Your Bliss Forums Are Moving to Zaadz
For a while now, I’ve been cross posting many of my blog posts to my Zaadz blog. Recently they launched a service for business owners that offers community features likes forums and this handy, dandy newsletter. I like the features so much, I’ve decided to move the forums over to my Zaadz site.

For those of you who don’t know, Zaadz.com is a growing online community of people who believe they can change the world through love, connection, and responsible capitalism (you can read their mission for more info). The ideals of the group fit right in with what I love about online community and when I was offered the opportunity to leverage some of the great tools and resources I jumped at the chance.

So what does this mean for you?
First, you’ll be receiving a newsletter approximately once a month to update you about what’s been going on at Uncover Your Bliss. The newsletter will highlight upcoming events, recent blog entries (which you’ll be able to find at Zaadz and at uncoveryourbliss.com), and any fun discussions going on in the forums.

Speaking of the forums, to participate in any of the discussions, you’ll need to register with Zaadz. Ordinarily I would avoid a situation where members would need to sign up for a third-party account, but Zaadz is an incredibly responsible, non-invasive company. You will not get spammed and you then have access to other fun resources such as your own blog, your own discussion forum, and lots of good vibes wherever you go on the system. If you’ve already posted to the other forums, feel free to move what you’ve posted over (or not, it’s up to you).

I’m a huge fan of the Zaadz.com community and feel very comfortably intrusting this part of my business with them.  I hope you’ll take the time to create an account to post in the forums and explore Zaadz.  Feel free to contact me about any questions you have regarding this transition or signing up.

*If you’d like to receive the newsletter, you can sign up here.  You do not have to be a member of Zaadz.com to get the newsletter.

First a refresher: The Law of Attraction states that there are three steps to manifesting what we want. The first step is asking which happens a thousand times a day—every time we have a preference for something. We cannot help but ask and even though we are compelled to drum the point home, focusing on asking for the things we want is unnecessary because our wanting does it for us. The second step is the answering which the Universe does for us so once again our attention is not necessary. In fact, I'd go so far as to say that our attention to how the things we want will come into our lives only limits possibilities and is usually detrimental to the process. The third step is receiving and this is the part of the process that requires our full focus. That is the step I'm going to be talking about in this post.

I'm going to cut right to the chase and tell you that the crap in our lives serves a very useful function. The experiences we don't want are here to inspire desire for what we do want. If we encounter someone who is mean to us, we automatically ask the Universe to be surrounded by people who treat us with respect. If we can't pay our bills, we automatically ask to be surrounded by abundance. If our cars break down, we automatically ask to have reliable transportation. If we never had displeasing experiences, we would never feel the joy of the creative process and its results.

Why, oh why, do they have to hang around though, right? If their purpose is to help us ask for things, why don't they go away after we ask? They stick around because we are focusing our attention on the asking and on why we're asking instead of receiving what the Universe always brings us in reply. So, we can't pay our bills and we automatically ask to be surrounded by abundance. And instead of thinking, "Oh yay! This unpaid bill was a reminder that I want abundance and now I've asked and now it will naturally flow into my life because the Universe always answers yes! I'm so glad I couldn't pay my bill!" we think, "I hate the fact that I can't pay my bills. I wish I had more money. My bank account is so empty. I don't even want to look at these bills." Even though the Universe always answers yes and is responding by bringing abundance into our lives we cannot bring it into physical manifestation until we know—until we feel—that it is here.

Until then, we just send out conflicting thoughts. The Universe says "YES!" when we ask for more money. The Universe says "YES!" when we affirm that we don't have any. Which thought is going to win? The one you think the most. It goes beyond that though. The one that wins is the one you feel is true. Do you feel surrounded by abundance or do you feel surrounded by lack? All you have to do is look around and whatever you've manifested is what you've been focusing on.

The task of receiving becomes learning how to deliberately and with great intent change the way you feel by reaching for a better thought and then a better thought and then a better thought. I used to think that if I could just visualize puppies and kittens all day, my life would be great because I would feel great thinking about cute little balls of fluff. But avoiding the things we have negative feelings about doesn't address the creative process. If we don't create a new situation with positive thoughts and feelings about it, the creation will never come to us.

Think about something you want to change. I'll continue the example of money. Our first thought may be, "I don't have enough money." That thought makes us feel scared and nervous and worried. So we reach for a better thought. "I don't have enough money now, but I know the Universe will bring me what I need." That's a little better. It's still dwelling on the lack, but it makes us feel a little better. We reach for a better thought. "I've always been taken care of and found a way to pay my bills." This moves us from a thought of not being able to afford things to an affirmation that we have and can do so again. "I've actually come a long way. I remember when I was younger and had so much less than I do now." Life is a progression and we've grown along the way. We have a demonstration of our ability to bring what we want into our lives. "I'm really excited about all of the wonderful things I'm going to be able to do with my money [insert detailed fantasy here]." We're spending the money in our heads as if we already had it. We're coming into alignment with what we've asked for.

This may seem simplistic, but how do you feel after going through a progression like that? Do you feel better about the thing that was making you feel anxious? Do you feel hopeful? More empowered? Yes? Go forth! Run through this process every day. If the answer is no, you may be reaching too high. The goal is not to reach a state of total bliss, the goal is to feel better than you do at any given moment. If you can only get to thought #2, that's great. You've raised your vibrational level and it will be easier to raise it further from there next time.

This process takes practice. I've said this before and I probably will say (and create a post about) it again many times : Happiness is a choice. You have to choose to be happy in a hundred different ways every day. One of the best ways to make that choice is to reach for a better thought in any given situation. If you're feeling worried or angry or scared or anxious, reach for a different way to think about things and keep going until you feel relief (relief is what raising your vibration from a negative thought feels like). Don't run away from whatever is upsetting you, turn around and change it by empowering yourself with happiness. I don't know about you, but just the idea that the Universe always says yes to what I want, and there are things that I can do right now to receive what I have asked for makes me feel extremely relieved.

This post is cross-posted from the Uncover Your Bliss blog.

Can you see how “making do” has an energy of stagnation and lack? Now, I’m not talking about the beat up pair of shoes that you love and make you feel like you can walk a million miles when you’re wearing them. That has an energy of love. I’m talking about the things that you’re keeping around just because they work, and you’re having a hard time justifying getting one that is more pleasing because it seems like a waste of resources. This is where I circle back around to the title of this post: I think it’s really important to surround ourselves in aesthetically pleasing things–whatever that means for each of us.

If you read almost any book on organization or motivation, it’s going to tell you that you have to find ways to want to do things. If you’re trying to organize, that means buying baskets and folders that you want to touch and see around the house. Maybe it means finding some fun pens you love to hold and use and see their ink on paper. Have you ever noticed that when you encounter people who have a hobby or a career they love, they have surrounded themselves with the fun gadgets and accoutrements that go along with their activities? When you go over to someone’s house who clearly likes to entertain, they typically have pretty dishes and glasses (not necessarily expensive, but pleasing nonetheless). Families who like to spend time in the living room will often have big, smooshy couches that make you want to dive right in.

My point is, those things display the passion and joy of the people who own them–even more, those things help fuel the passion and joy for those people. I’ll give you an example. I love to cook and bake. I find such creative pleasure in finding a recipe, adding my personal flare, and then receiving the warm appreciation from those who eat what I’ve made. One of the results of my passion for cooking is an obsession with pretty and useful kitchenware. So I have a standing mixer to help me whip up eggs and cream and batter and bread dough. It removes a lot of the grunt work that I find unpleasant. (Some people love to get their hands in floury dough–and I totally appreciate that inclination. Personally, it gives me the heebie jeebies.) I bought some extremely lovely Nigella Lawson ceramic measuring cups. When I look at them, not only do I feel a surge of happiness from their shape and color, but they remind me of the joy Nigella Lawson brings to everything she makes and her life in general.

So what happens when we surround ourselves with things we love? Imagine what your life would be like if everywhere you looked, you saw something that made you smile or feel good. How would you approach doing tasks that you would otherwise feel are unpleasant if you have beautiful or fun tools to do them with? What if you never had to “make do” with anything, but could either find joy in what you have right now, or manifest something that puts you in a happy state of mind?

Transforming your environment into something that pleases you is typically something that happens little by little over time (Extreme Home Makeovers aside, of course), so I’m not suggesting that you throw everything you don’t like away and spend every dime you have to buy new things. Because ultimately this is not about things it’s about an attitude and a state of mind. If we retrain ourselves to think that we deserve to have an environment that brings us joy, to choose to surround ourselves with things we love on a day to day basis, we will be shifting our awareness towards abundance and we will continually affirm that we deserve to live joyful lives.

Share the story of how something you love found its way into your life at the Uncover Your Bliss forums.

This post is cross-posted from the Uncover Your Bliss blog.

So then you wonder if this is the “healing crisis” you’ve heard about—where during the healing process, things get worse before they get better because you’re getting at core beliefs. Healing or not, it’s definitely a crisis. You’ve got bills to pay and work to do and a life to live and what if this whole line of reasoning is bullshit? And then you struggle to nip that line of reasoning in the bud. But damn, it’s not fair how easy it is to slip into a terror spiral, but how hard it is to claw your way to a positive thought. Why is that anyway? And while you’re on the subject, why are doughnuts really bad for you, but twigs and leaves are great?

“Why can’t things be easy?” you ask. Where’s your found winning lottery ticket? Where is your miracle? How long do you have to work at being happy before you’re actually happy? How long do you have to pay for old mistakes? Why can’t you watch The Secret or read Think and Grow Rich and then automatically get it and never have to struggle again? Why couldn’t you remember what you knew before you were born? Why are you so far from where you want to be? How long are you going to have to imagine where you want to be instead of looking around at what is?

If that sounds even remotely familiar, I have an answer for you. It may not be what you want to hear, you may wish you knew me in person so you could drive to Denver and smack me. That being the case, I’ll work up to it by saying that all of those questions are my questions. So if they’re familiar to you, know that we are soul mates. The answer is a poem dedicated to me. So here it is:

Stop struggling. Stop clawing. Stop working. Let go. Get out of your own way, stop making things more complicated than they are (which is not at all). Do what comes into your mind to do, when it comes into your mind. Trust that the worst possible thing that could happen to you will always be the best possible thing that could happen to you. Life is as easy or as hard as you think it is. The Universe always says yes to what you think and ask.

Stop looking for outside of yourself to find happiness. That means stop waiting for people and things and money and situations. Let them go. Turn “what is” into the best day of your life. Turn your focus inside. Pretend for a moment that you don’t want any more money or things or people or particular situations. Got it? Can you see it? Now what can you do to be happy? Is it going to school or going to Paris or doing yoga or getting a kitten or quitting your job or singing or saying a prayer? What do you want? When you’re clear on that, do what you can (that’s important) and believe the resources to do the rest will come to you. Know they are coming. Be excited about the delivery. (Try not to track the package.)

Here’s how you let go:

• “I always get what I want, it’s like magic.”
• “I just think about things that will make me happy and they appear.”
• “I never know how something is going to come into my life, but finding out about the trip is part of the fun.”
• “The entire Universe realigns itself to bring me what I want.”
• “I don’t ever have to feel bad.”
• “Today is the best day of my life.”
• “Thinking happy and positive thoughts is really easy for me.”
• “I know I will always be taken care of.”
• “My life is more fun now that I don’t have to control everything that happens in it.”
• “It’s exciting when challenging things happen to me—they show me how to dig out resistance.”
• “I can’t wait to see what’s going to happen next!”

This post is cross-posted from the Uncover Your Bliss blog.